Merit Financial Group LLC Raises Stock Position in Energy Transfer LP $ET

Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) by 90.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 87,437 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 41,485 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Energy Transfer were worth $1,442,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lee Financial Co grew its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 359.7% during the third quarter. Lee Financial Co now owns 193,817 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,326,000 after purchasing an additional 151,657 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Global Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 6.0% during the third quarter. Eagle Global Advisors LLC now owns 6,466,059 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $110,958,000 after purchasing an additional 363,623 shares in the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 5.2% during the third quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 2,927,436 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $50,235,000 after purchasing an additional 144,037 shares in the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 150.2% during the third quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 105,003 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,802,000 after purchasing an additional 63,043 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY grew its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 2.6% during the third quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 5,351,145 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $91,826,000 after purchasing an additional 136,507 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 38.22% of the company’s stock.

Energy Transfer Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:ET opened at $19.06 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. Energy Transfer LP has a 12 month low of $15.80 and a 12 month high of $19.85. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $18.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.62. The company has a market cap of $65.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.75, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.62.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The pipeline company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by ($0.09). Energy Transfer had a net margin of 5.11% and a return on equity of 10.17%. The business had revenue of $25.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.29 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 29.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 19th. Investors of record on Friday, February 6th were issued a $0.335 dividend. This represents a $1.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 6th. This is a positive change from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is 110.74%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ET has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Energy Transfer from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Friday, January 16th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Energy Transfer from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.60.

Energy Transfer Company Profile

Energy Transfer (NYSE: ET) is a Dallas-based midstream energy company that develops and operates infrastructure for the transportation, storage and processing of hydrocarbons. The company’s operations focus on moving and storing natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), crude oil and refined products through an integrated network of pipelines, terminals, storage facilities and processing plants. Energy Transfer provides core midstream services such as gathering, compression, fractionation, processing, and bulk transportation to support production and downstream supply chains.

Its asset base spans an extensive network across the United States, connecting producing regions, processing centers, petrochemical hubs and coastal and inland markets.