Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC Sells 14,612 Shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET)

Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET - Free Report) by 52.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,170 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 14,612 shares during the period. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC's holdings in Energy Transfer were worth $245,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Energy Transfer by 12.9% in the first quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 75,353,994 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,400,831,000 after acquiring an additional 8,613,645 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 38,634,018 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $756,840,000 after purchasing an additional 5,254,721 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 19,776,221 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $387,416,000 after purchasing an additional 1,093,381 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 18.2% during 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 acquiring an additional 2,512,060 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis raised its holdings in Energy Transfer by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Natixis now owns 14,619,124 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $286,389,000 after purchasing an additional 962,800 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 38.22% of the company's stock.

Energy Transfer Trading Down 0.2%

NYSE ET traded down $0.04 on Friday, hitting $17.51. 6,041,998 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,645,318. Energy Transfer LP has a 52-week low of $14.60 and a 52-week high of $21.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The company has a market capitalization of $60.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.25, a P/E/G ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 0.79. The company's 50-day moving average price is $17.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.37.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.03. Energy Transfer had a net margin of 5.88% and a return on equity of 11.47%. The firm had revenue of $21.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $22.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.32 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.46 EPS for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 9th were paid a dividend of $0.3275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 9th. This represents a $1.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.48%. This is a positive change from Energy Transfer's previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. Energy Transfer's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 99.24%.

Insider Activity

In other Energy Transfer news, Director James Richard Perry sold 1,369 shares of Energy Transfer stock in a transaction on Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.48, for a total transaction of $25,299.12. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 24,523 shares of the company's stock, valued at $453,185.04. This trade represents a 5.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ET. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Energy Transfer from $25.00 to $23.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Mizuho increased their price target on Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. TD Cowen began coverage on Energy Transfer in a research note on Monday, July 7th. They set a "buy" rating and a $22.00 price target for the company. Finally, Cowen began coverage on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Monday, July 7th. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $22.58.

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.