Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET - Free Report) by 125.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 469,227 shares of the pipeline company's stock after purchasing an additional 260,700 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Energy Transfer were worth $9,192,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ET. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in Energy Transfer by 12,090.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 12,455,613 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $244,005,000 after acquiring an additional 12,353,441 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in Energy Transfer by 15.7% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 38,634,018 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $756,840,000 after buying an additional 5,254,721 shares during the period. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI acquired a new stake in shares of Energy Transfer during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $79,113,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new stake in shares of Energy Transfer in the 4th quarter worth about $50,166,000. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 18.2% in the fourth quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 16,331,220 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $319,929,000 after purchasing an additional 2,512,060 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 38.22% of the company's stock.
Energy Transfer Stock Up 0.4%
Energy Transfer stock traded up $0.07 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $17.92. 8,277,139 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,459,362. Energy Transfer LP has a 1 year low of $14.60 and a 1 year high of $21.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market cap of $61.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.00, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $17.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $18.61.
Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $21.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $22.28 billion. Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 11.56% and a net margin of 5.74%. The company's revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.32 earnings per share. On average, sell-side 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 Tuesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 9th were given a $0.3275 dividend. This represents a $1.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.31%. This is a positive change from Energy Transfer's previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 9th. Energy Transfer's dividend payout ratio is presently 99.24%.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several brokerages recently weighed in on ET. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Energy Transfer from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Energy Transfer from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Energy Transfer currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $22.64.
View Our Latest Research Report on Energy Transfer
About Energy Transfer
(
Free Report)
Energy Transfer LP provides energy-related services. The company owns and operates natural gas transportation pipeline, and natural gas storage facilities in Texas and Oklahoma; and approximately 20,090 miles of interstate natural gas pipeline. It also sells natural gas to electric utilities, independent power plants, local distribution and other marketing companies, and industrial end-users.
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