North Star Investment Management Corp. Boosts Stock Holdings in Energy Transfer LP $ET

Key Points

• North Star Investment Management boosted its Energy Transfer stake by 39% in the first quarter, adding 62,916 shares to bring its total to 224,439 shares valued at about $4.33 million.
• Several other institutional investors also increased their ET holdings, and 38.22% of Energy Transfer’s stock is now owned by hedge funds and other institutions.
• Energy Transfer reported mixed quarterly results, missing EPS estimates but beating revenue forecasts, and it also raised its dividend to $0.3375 per quarter, implying an annualized yield of about 7.0%.

North Star Investment Management Corp. increased its stake in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET - Free Report) by 39.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 224,439 shares of the pipeline company's stock after acquiring an additional 62,916 shares during the period. North Star Investment Management Corp.'s holdings in Energy Transfer were worth $4,332,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ET. Asset Allocation Strategies LLC grew its stake in Energy Transfer by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Asset Allocation Strategies LLC now owns 44,496 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $859,000 after purchasing an additional 765 shares in the last quarter. Tepp RIA LLC raised its position in Energy Transfer by 20.1% in the 1st quarter. Tepp RIA LLC now owns 20,535 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $396,000 after purchasing an additional 3,436 shares in the last quarter. Apollon Financial LLC raised its position in Energy Transfer by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 16,000 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $309,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 267,887 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $5,170,000 after buying an additional 4,578 shares during the period. Finally, Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC grew its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 100.7% during the first quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 29,006 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $560,000 after buying an additional 14,553 shares in the last quarter. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Energy Transfer Price Performance

ET stock opened at $19.16 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $19.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.51. The stock has a market cap of $65.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.97, a PEG ratio of 1.11 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. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.05). Energy Transfer had a net margin of 4.66% and a return on equity of 9.77%. The company had revenue of $27.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $25.78 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.36 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 32.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Friday, May 8th were given a $0.3375 dividend. This is a positive change 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 7.0%. Energy Transfer's payout ratio is 112.50%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ET has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating and set a $23.00 target price (up from $22.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Friday, June 5th. Raymond James Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Scotiabank restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $23.00 price objective (up from $22.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $23.45.

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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