Americana Partners LLC Raises Position in Energy Transfer LP $ET

Key Points

• Americana Partners LLC increased its Energy Transfer stake by 13.4% in the fourth quarter, buying 377,224 more shares and bringing its total to 3.19 million shares valued at about $52.5 million.
• Institutional ownership remains significant, with hedge funds and other institutional investors holding 38.22% of Energy Transfer’s stock after several firms also added to positions during the quarter.
• Analysts are generally bullish on Energy Transfer, with a consensus Buy rating and an average price target of $22.73, while the stock recently traded around $20.09 and offers a 6.7% dividend yield.

Americana Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET - Free Report) by 13.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,186,247 shares of the pipeline company's stock after purchasing an additional 377,224 shares during the quarter. Energy Transfer accounts for about 1.4% of Americana Partners LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Americana Partners LLC owned 0.09% of Energy Transfer worth $52,541,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mountain Capital Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Energy Transfer by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Mountain Capital Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 12,007 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $216,000 after buying an additional 560 shares during the last quarter. Marks Wealth LLC grew its stake in Energy Transfer by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Marks Wealth LLC now owns 12,560 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $207,000 after acquiring an additional 560 shares in the last quarter. SP Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Energy Transfer by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. SP Asset Management LLC now owns 30,631 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $505,000 after acquiring an additional 589 shares in the last quarter. Gables Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Energy Transfer by 60.0% during the 4th quarter. Gables Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,600 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Energy Transfer by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC now owns 28,106 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $463,000 after buying an additional 607 shares in the last quarter. 38.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of 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 reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $23.00 price target for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $22.73.

Energy Transfer Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE ET opened at $20.09 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The company has a 50-day moving average of $19.35 and a 200 day moving average of $18.06. The stock has a market cap of $69.14 billion, a PE ratio of 16.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.57. Energy Transfer LP has a 12-month low of $16.18 and a 12-month high of $20.70.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.05). Energy Transfer had a net margin of 4.66% and a return on equity of 9.77%. The company had revenue of $27.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $25.78 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.36 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 32.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 8th were issued a dividend of $0.3375 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 8th. This represents a $1.35 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.7%. This is a boost from Energy Transfer's previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Energy Transfer's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 112.50%.

Energy Transfer 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.

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