Axiom Investment Management LLC Makes New $1.75 Million Investment in Energy Transfer LP $ET

Axiom Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 90,901 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $1,754,000. Energy Transfer makes up approximately 1.3% of Axiom Investment Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 41.6% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 86,310,272 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,423,256,000 after purchasing an additional 25,366,594 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 83,843,087 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,382,573,000 after buying an additional 6,192,066 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 3.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 57,862,666 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $992,923,000 after buying an additional 1,773,042 shares during the period. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. grew its position in Energy Transfer by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 38,675,828 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $637,764,000 after buying an additional 103,245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in Energy Transfer by 5.7% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 30,956,358 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $597,458,000 after buying an additional 1,656,609 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 38.22% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on ET shares. Scotiabank restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. TD Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $24.00 target price (up from $23.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Energy Transfer from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $23.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $23.50.

Energy Transfer Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ET opened at $20.38 on Friday. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $19.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.93. Energy Transfer LP has a 1 year low of $16.18 and a 1 year high of $20.70.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $27.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.78 billion. Energy Transfer had a net margin of 4.66% and a return on equity of 9.77%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 32.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.36 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Investors of record on Friday, August 7th will be paid a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.7%. This is a boost from Energy Transfer's previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 7th. Energy Transfer's payout ratio is 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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