Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) Shares Sold by Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA

Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA decreased its stake in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) by 3.1% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,666,295 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 84,657 shares during the period. Energy Transfer accounts for 7.3% of Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA’s holdings in Energy Transfer were worth $49,566,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC boosted its position in Energy Transfer by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 38,634,018 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $756,840,000 after acquiring an additional 5,254,721 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP boosted its position in Energy Transfer by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 23,987,750 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $469,920,000 after acquiring an additional 1,723,683 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in Energy Transfer by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 19,776,221 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $387,416,000 after acquiring an additional 1,093,381 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its position in Energy Transfer by 18.2% during the 4th quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 16,331,220 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $319,929,000 after acquiring an additional 2,512,060 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis boosted its position in Energy Transfer by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Natixis now owns 14,619,124 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $286,389,000 after acquiring an additional 962,800 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.22% of the company’s stock.

Energy Transfer Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of ET stock opened at $17.94 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $17.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.12. Energy Transfer LP has a twelve month low of $14.60 and a twelve month high of $21.45. The company has a market capitalization of $61.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.02, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.78.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.03. Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 11.56% and a net margin of 5.74%. The business had revenue of $21.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.28 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.32 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 2.8% 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 year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Friday, May 9th were paid a $0.3275 dividend. This represents a $1.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.30%. This is an increase from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 9th. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 99.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on ET shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Energy Transfer from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Monday, March 24th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Energy Transfer from $25.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.64.

Energy Transfer Company Profile

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.