Northstar Advisory Group LLC Takes $471,000 Position in Energy Transfer LP $ET

Key Points

• Northstar Advisory Group LLC has acquired a new stake in Energy Transfer LP, purchasing 25,952 shares valued at approximately $471,000 in Q2.
• Energy Transfer's Director, Kelcy L. Warren, notably increased his ownership by buying 1.35 million shares worth over $23 million on August 20th.
• Analysts have set a consensus price target of $22.54 for Energy Transfer, with several reports recommending a buy rating.

Northstar Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 25,952 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $471,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Atwood & Palmer Inc. increased its position in Energy Transfer by 2,062.3% during the 2nd quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 4,822 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 4,599 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. increased its position in Energy Transfer by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 63,434 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,150,000 after purchasing an additional 4,070 shares in the last quarter. Adams Asset Advisors LLC increased its position in Energy Transfer by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Adams Asset Advisors LLC now owns 1,423,717 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $25,812,000 after purchasing an additional 7,957 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in Energy Transfer by 22.9% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 41,999 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $761,000 after purchasing an additional 7,817 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC increased its position in Energy Transfer by 33.7% during the 2nd quarter. Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC now owns 61,628 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,117,000 after purchasing an additional 15,523 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 38.22% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kelcy L. Warren bought 1,350,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $17.36 per share, with a total value of $23,436,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 69,178,477 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,200,938,360.72. This represents a 1.99% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 3.28% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ET has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $23.00 price objective (up previously from $21.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Scotiabank started coverage on Energy Transfer in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. They issued a "sector outperform" rating and a $23.00 price target on the stock. Mizuho raised their price target on Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Energy Transfer from $25.00 to $23.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Energy Transfer from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Energy Transfer has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $22.54.

Energy Transfer Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ET opened at $17.45 on Monday. Energy Transfer LP has a twelve month low of $14.60 and a twelve month high of $21.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44. The company has a market capitalization of $59.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.85. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $17.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.65.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.32. Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 11.08% and a net margin of 5.80%.The company had revenue of $19.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $24.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.35 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 19th. Investors of record on Friday, August 8th were paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. This is an increase from Energy Transfer's previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 8th. Energy Transfer's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 102.33%.

Energy Transfer Profile

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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