Energy Transfer LP $ET Stock Position Trimmed by SL Advisors LLC

SL Advisors LLC decreased its position in Energy Transfer LP (NYSEAMERICAN:ET) by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 448,898 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 25,000 shares during the period. Energy Transfer accounts for 18.2% of SL Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. SL Advisors LLC’s holdings in Energy Transfer were worth $8,875,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fermata Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 27,451 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $543,000 after acquiring an additional 1,350 shares in the last quarter. Oak Grove Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Energy Transfer by 5.4% in the third quarter. Oak Grove Capital LLC now owns 943,209 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $18,647,000 after purchasing an additional 48,500 shares during the period. GK Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Energy Transfer in the third quarter worth $59,000. Wedmont Private Capital acquired a new position in Energy Transfer in the third quarter worth $289,000. Finally, Chapin Davis Inc. increased its stake in Energy Transfer by 1.5% during the third quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. now owns 105,426 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,084,000 after purchasing an additional 1,521 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 38.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Energy Transfer from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Energy Transfer from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 4th. Melius Research initiated coverage on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. They set a “hold” rating and a $25.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $25.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Energy Transfer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Energy Transfer has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $24.60.

Energy Transfer Stock Performance

Shares of ET stock traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $20.38. The stock had a trading volume of 2,648,964 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,332,003. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.94. Energy Transfer LP has a twelve month low of $16.18 and a twelve month high of $21.84. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $20.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.16 billion, a PE ratio of 13.86 and a beta of 0.60.

Energy Transfer (NYSEAMERICAN:ET) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.21. Energy Transfer had a net margin of 4.87% and a return on equity of 11.55%. The firm had revenue of $34.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.32 EPS. Energy Transfer’s revenue was up 78.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 7th were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.7%. This is a positive change from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.3375. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 7th. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio is 92.52%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director James Perry purchased 12,359 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 7th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $20.23 per share, for a total transaction of $250,022.57. Following the transaction, the director owned 208,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,208,770.58. This represents a 6.32% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kelcy Warren bought 647,968 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $21.26 per share, with a total value of $13,775,799.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 147,901,879 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,144,393,947.54. This trade represents a 0.44% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have acquired 1,012,359 shares of company stock worth $21,513,543. 3.28% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Energy Transfer Profile

Energy Transfer LP is a diversified energy infrastructure company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The partnership owns and operates a broad network of pipelines, processing facilities, storage assets and terminals that support the movement of natural gas, natural gas liquids, crude oil and refined products across the United States.

The company’s operations include gathering and processing natural gas, transporting and storing natural gas and NGLs, fractionating NGLs into component products, and transporting crude oil and refined products.