Energy Transfer LP $ET Stake Decreased by Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co.

Key Points

• Duff & Phelps reduced its stake by 22.6%, selling 1,142,283 shares in Q3 and now holds 3,903,464 shares of Energy Transfer (about 0.11% of the company) worth roughly $66.98 million.
• Analysts lean positive: 10 Buy ratings vs. 2 Holds, an average consensus of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $21.40, with several firms recently nudging targets to about $21.
• Energy Transfer reported Q results that missed EPS ($0.25 vs. $0.34 est.) but beat on revenue ($25.32B, +29.6% YoY), and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.335 (annualized $1.34), implying a ~7.1% yield with a payout ratio of ~110.7%.

Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. reduced its stake in shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET - Free Report) by 22.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,903,464 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 1,142,283 shares during the quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. owned about 0.11% of Energy Transfer worth $66,983,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ET. Financial Life Planners acquired a new stake in shares of Energy Transfer during the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 54.4% in the 2nd quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,270 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Core Alternative Capital acquired a new stake in shares of Energy Transfer during the third quarter worth $46,000. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Energy Transfer during the second quarter worth $50,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Energy Transfer by 38.9% during the 3rd quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,918 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 817 shares during the period. 38.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ET has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Energy Transfer from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Wednesday, December 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Energy Transfer from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $21.40.

Energy Transfer Stock Performance

Shares of ET stock opened at $18.75 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.90. Energy Transfer LP has a fifty-two week low of $14.60 and a fifty-two week high of $19.30. The stock's 50-day moving average is $18.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.28. The firm has a market cap of $64.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.49, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.63.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The pipeline company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.34 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $25.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.56 billion. Energy Transfer had a net margin of 5.11% and a return on equity of 10.17%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 29.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.29 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 6th were given a dividend of $0.335 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 6th. This is a positive change from Energy Transfer's previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. This represents a $1.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.1%. Energy Transfer's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 110.74%.

Energy Transfer Company 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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