Lee Financial Co Acquires 1,657 Shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET)

Lee Financial Co boosted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 192,961 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 1,657 shares during the quarter. Energy Transfer comprises approximately 0.5% of Lee Financial Co’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Lee Financial Co’s holdings in Energy Transfer were worth $3,780,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Energy Transfer by 65.0% during the third quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 1,650 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 650 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in Energy Transfer by 2,138.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,746 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 1,668 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new stake in Energy Transfer during the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Financial Life Planners bought a new stake in Energy Transfer in the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Energy Transfer by 44.8% in the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 2,357 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 729 shares during the period. 38.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on ET shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Energy Transfer from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Energy Transfer from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Energy Transfer from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Energy Transfer from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.18.

Energy Transfer Stock Performance

Shares of ET opened at $19.98 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market cap of $68.42 billion, a PE ratio of 14.69, a PEG ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.69. Energy Transfer LP has a 1 year low of $14.09 and a 1 year high of $21.45. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $19.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.76.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The pipeline company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.35 by ($0.06). Energy Transfer had a net margin of 5.90% and a return on equity of 12.38%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.37 EPS for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 19th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a $0.325 dividend. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.51%. This is a positive change from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is currently 94.85%.

About Energy Transfer

Energy Transfer LP provides energy-related services. The company owns and operates natural gas transportation pipeline, and natural gas storage facilities in Texas and Oklahoma; and approximately 20,090 miles of interstate natural gas pipeline. It also sells natural gas to electric utilities, independent power plants, local distribution and other marketing companies, and industrial end-users.