Energy Transfer LP $ET Shares Sold by HighTower Advisors LLC

Key Points

• HighTower Advisors LLC cut its Energy Transfer stake by 12.5% in the fourth quarter, selling 389,042 shares and ending with 2.72 million shares valued at about $44.8 million.
• Several analysts remain bullish on Energy Transfer (NYSE: ET), with recent price targets raised to as high as $25 and a consensus rating of Buy with a $22.73 average target.
• The company reported quarterly EPS of $0.35, missing estimates, but revenue came in above expectations at $27.77 billion; Energy Transfer also maintained a high dividend yield of about 6.7%.

HighTower Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET - Free Report) by 12.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,719,258 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 389,042 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC owned about 0.08% of Energy Transfer worth $44,841,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mountain Capital Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Mountain Capital Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 12,007 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $216,000 after acquiring an additional 560 shares during the last quarter. Marks Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 4.7% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. SP Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 2.0% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 607 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Howard Financial Services LTD. increased its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 188,175 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $3,103,000 after acquiring an additional 623 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.22% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on ET shares. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $23.00 price objective (up from $22.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $23.00 price objective (up from $22.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Raymond James Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $22.73.

Energy Transfer Stock Down 0.6%

ET opened at $20.04 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $19.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.05. The company has a market cap of $68.97 billion, a PE ratio of 16.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.57. Energy Transfer LP has a 1 year low of $16.18 and a 1 year 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 - Get Free Report) last posted its 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). The business had revenue of $27.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.78 billion. Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 9.77% and a net margin of 4.66%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 32.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.36 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Friday, May 8th were given a dividend of $0.3375 per share. This is a boost 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 yield of 6.7%. Energy Transfer's dividend payout ratio 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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