Empowered Funds LLC Purchases 649,718 Shares of Energy Transfer LP $ET

Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) by 48.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,982,403 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 649,718 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Energy Transfer were worth $38,260,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Basepoint Wealth LLC bought a new position in Energy Transfer in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Gables Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Energy Transfer by 60.0% during the fourth quarter. Gables Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,600 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Sarver Vrooman Wealth Advisors bought a new stake in Energy Transfer during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Energy Transfer during the first quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Navalign LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Energy Transfer in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Institutional investors own 38.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ET. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $23.00 price target (up from $22.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Energy Transfer from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $24.00 target price (up from $23.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Energy Transfer from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.50.

Energy Transfer Trading Down 2.2%

Shares of NYSE ET opened at $19.91 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $19.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $19.02. The stock has a market cap of $68.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.55. Energy Transfer LP has a 52-week low of $16.18 and a 52-week high of $20.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.17.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.05). Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 9.77% and a net margin of 4.66%.The business had revenue of $27.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.36 EPS. Energy Transfer’s revenue for the quarter was up 32.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.43 EPS for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Investors of record on Friday, August 7th will be given a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 7th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.8%. This is an increase from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio is 112.50%.

About Energy Transfer

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.