Energy Transfer LP $ET Shares Sold by BLB&B Advisors LLC

BLB&B Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 49,051 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the period. BLB&B Advisors LLC’s holdings in Energy Transfer were worth $889,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 12.9% in the 1st quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 75,353,994 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,400,831,000 after purchasing an additional 8,613,645 shares during the period. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. lifted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 38,205,495 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $710,240,000 after purchasing an additional 951,656 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 24,170,455 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $449,329,000 after purchasing an additional 182,705 shares during the period. Energy Income Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 12.0% in the 1st quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 23,120,066 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $429,802,000 after purchasing an additional 2,471,401 shares during the period. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 16,787,080 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $312,072,000 after purchasing an additional 455,860 shares during the period. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Energy Transfer news, Director Kelcy L. Warren bought 1,350,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $17.36 per share, with a total value of $23,436,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 69,178,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,200,938,360.72. This represents a 1.99% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 3.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on ET. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $23.00 target price for the company. Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Monday, July 7th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Energy Transfer from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $17.00 price target on shares of Energy Transfer and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.23.

Energy Transfer Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ET opened at $16.77 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $57.57 billion, a PE ratio of 13.00, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.78. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $17.14 and a 200 day moving average of $17.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.15. Energy Transfer LP has a one year low of $14.60 and a one year high of $21.45.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32. Energy Transfer had a net margin of 5.80% and a return on equity of 11.08%. The business had revenue of $19.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.35 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.3325 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 7th. This is a positive change from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. This represents a $1.33 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.9%. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is currently 102.33%.

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.