Independent Financial Group LLC Acquires New Position in Energy Transfer LP $ET

Key Points

• Independent Financial Group LLC opened a new position in Energy Transfer during the first quarter, buying 112,449 shares valued at about $2.17 million.
• Several other institutional investors also increased their stakes, and overall institutional ownership stands at 38.22% of the stock.
• Wall Street sentiment is broadly positive: analysts currently rate ET as a Buy on average, with a consensus price target of $23.55 versus a recent share price of about $20.30.

Independent Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 112,449 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $2,170,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC increased its position in Energy Transfer by 8.7% during the 1st quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 36,888 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $712,000 after purchasing an additional 2,939 shares in the last quarter. Helium Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 18.0% during the first quarter. Helium Advisors LLC now owns 16,033 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $309,000 after purchasing an additional 2,447 shares in the last quarter. NFSG Corp boosted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 8.4% during the first quarter. NFSG Corp now owns 95,876 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,850,000 after purchasing an additional 7,429 shares in the last quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 11.5% during the first quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 22,298 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $430,000 after purchasing an additional 2,303 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 15.8% during the first quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 1,888,661 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $36,451,000 after purchasing an additional 257,954 shares during the last quarter. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ET. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Scotiabank reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Energy Transfer from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $23.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Energy Transfer from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $23.55.

Energy Transfer Price Performance

Shares of ET opened at $20.30 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $19.52 and a 200-day moving average of $18.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The company has a market capitalization of $69.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.55. Energy Transfer LP has a 1 year low of $16.18 and a 1 year high of $20.70.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET - Get Free Report) last released its 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 firm had revenue of $27.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.78 billion. Energy Transfer had a net margin of 4.66% and a return on equity of 9.77%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 32.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.36 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Friday, May 8th were issued a $0.3375 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 8th. This is a positive change from Energy Transfer's previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.35 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.6%. Energy Transfer's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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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