Bank of America Corp DE Grows Stake in Energy Transfer LP $ET

Key Points

• Bank of America increased its Energy Transfer stake by 5.7% in the first quarter, adding 1.66 million shares to own 30.96 million shares worth approximately $597.5 million, or 0.90% of the company.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish, with a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $23.50, compared with the stock’s reported price of $20.38.
• Energy Transfer reported quarterly revenue growth of 32.1% year over year to $27.77 billion, though EPS of $0.35 missed estimates. The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.34, equivalent to a 6.7% annualized yield.

Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET - Free Report) by 5.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,956,358 shares of the pipeline company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,656,609 shares during the quarter. Bank of America Corp DE owned 0.90% of Energy Transfer worth $597,458,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Texas Yale Capital Corp. boosted its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Texas Yale Capital Corp. now owns 1,311,965 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $21,634,000 after acquiring an additional 75,700 shares during the period. North Star Investment Management Corp. increased its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 100.1% in the 4th quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 161,523 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $2,664,000 after acquiring an additional 80,786 shares during the period. Summit Securities Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 179.0% in the 1st quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC now owns 162,100 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $3,129,000 after acquiring an additional 104,000 shares during the period. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Energy Transfer by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,560,110 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $25,726,000 after purchasing an additional 129,489 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Markets Americas LLC bought a new stake in Energy Transfer in the 1st quarter valued at about $61,760,000. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on ET. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $23.00 target price (up from $22.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. TD Cowen reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $24.00 price objective (up from $23.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Thursday, July 16th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Energy Transfer from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Citigroup reissued 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $23.50.

Energy Transfer Price Performance

NYSE ET opened at $20.38 on Friday. Energy Transfer LP has a 12 month low of $16.18 and a 12 month high of $20.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.11 billion, a PE ratio of 16.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.55. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $19.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.10. 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 (NYSE:ET - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.05). Energy Transfer had a net margin of 4.66% and a return on equity of 9.77%. The firm had revenue of $27.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.78 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.36 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 32.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

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

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