Cohen & Steers Inc. Purchases 459,138 Shares of Energy Transfer LP $ET

Key Points

• Cohen & Steers Inc. boosted its Energy Transfer position by 17.7% in the fourth quarter, buying 459,138 more shares and bringing its total stake to 3,052,066 shares worth about $50.3 million.
• Several other institutions also increased their ET holdings, and institutional investors now own 38.22% of the stock.
• Wall Street remains broadly upbeat on Energy Transfer, with a consensus Buy rating and average price target of $23.45, while the company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.3375 per share, implying a 7.1% yield.

Cohen & Steers Inc. increased its position in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET - Free Report) by 17.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,052,066 shares of the pipeline company's stock after purchasing an additional 459,138 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc. owned approximately 0.09% of Energy Transfer worth $50,329,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of ET. Asset Allocation Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Asset Allocation Strategies LLC now owns 43,731 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $721,000 after buying an additional 2,042 shares during the last quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Energy Transfer by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 37,334 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $616,000 after buying an additional 5,469 shares in the last quarter. Summit Financial LLC lifted its stake in Energy Transfer by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 710,885 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $11,723,000 after acquiring an additional 14,185 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in Energy Transfer by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 98,262 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,620,000 after acquiring an additional 3,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Energy Transfer by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 464,077 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $7,653,000 after acquiring an additional 24,819 shares during the last quarter. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on ET. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective 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. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Energy Transfer from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $23.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $23.00 price objective (up from $22.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Thursday, May 14th. 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 report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $23.45.

Energy Transfer Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ET opened at $19.06 on Friday. The company's 50-day moving average is $19.44 and its 200 day moving average is $18.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.17. The company has a market capitalization of $65.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.55. Energy Transfer LP has a fifty-two week low of $16.18 and a fifty-two week high of $20.70.

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 for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $27.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $25.78 billion. Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 9.77% and a net margin of 4.66%.Energy Transfer's quarterly revenue was up 32.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.36 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Friday, May 8th were issued a $0.3375 dividend. This is an increase from Energy Transfer's previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 8th. This represents a $1.35 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.1%. Energy Transfer's payout ratio is presently 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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