Fortitude Advisory Group L.L.C. Buys New Shares in Energy Transfer LP $ET

Fortitude Advisory Group L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSEAMERICAN:ET) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 31,196 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $617,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ET. Osbon Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Energy Transfer during the second quarter valued at $25,000. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Energy Transfer in the first quarter valued at $35,000. Financial Life Planners purchased a new stake in shares of Energy Transfer in the first quarter valued at $40,000. Pinpoint Asset Management Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Energy Transfer in the 2nd quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Bullseye Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Energy Transfer in the 2nd quarter worth about $42,000. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Energy Transfer Price Performance

ET opened at $19.88 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $20.89 and a 200 day moving average of $20.02. Energy Transfer LP has a 52-week low of $16.18 and a 52-week high of $21.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. The stock has a market cap of $68.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.52 and a beta of 0.60.

Energy Transfer (NYSEAMERICAN:ET) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.21. Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 11.55% and a net margin of 4.87%. The company had revenue of $34.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $27.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.32 EPS. Energy Transfer’s quarterly revenue was up 78.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.73 EPS for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 7th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This is an increase from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.3375. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 7th. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is presently 92.52%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on ET. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Energy Transfer from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 4th. Capital One Financial initiated coverage on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $26.00 price objective on the stock. Zacks Research lowered shares of Energy Transfer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $24.00 price objective (up from $23.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $24.00 price objective (up from $23.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $24.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director James Perry bought 12,359 shares of Energy Transfer stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $20.23 per share, with a total value of $250,022.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 208,046 shares in the company, valued at $4,208,770.58. The trade was a 6.32% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kelcy L. Warren acquired 647,968 shares of Energy Transfer stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $21.26 per share, for a total transaction of $13,775,799.68. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 147,901,879 shares in the company, 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. Insiders have bought 1,012,359 shares of company stock valued at $21,513,543 over the last three months. Insiders own 3.28% of the company’s stock.

About Energy Transfer

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.