Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE Purchases New Position in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET)

Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE acquired a new stake in shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 18,753 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $349,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ET. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in Energy Transfer by 12,090.8% during the fourth 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 last quarter. FMR LLC increased 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 valued at $756,840,000 after acquiring an additional 5,254,721 shares during the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI purchased a new stake in Energy Transfer during the fourth quarter valued at $79,113,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new stake in Energy Transfer during the fourth quarter valued at $50,166,000. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its position in 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 38.22% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on ET shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $23.00 price objective on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Energy Transfer from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Energy Transfer from $25.00 to $23.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Energy Transfer presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $22.64.

Energy Transfer Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ET traded down $0.16 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $18.30. The company's stock had a trading volume of 14,306,574 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,601,162. The firm has a market capitalization of $62.78 billion, a PE ratio of 14.29, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.78. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average of $17.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.60. Energy Transfer LP has a 52 week low of $14.60 and a 52 week high of $21.45.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $21.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.28 billion. Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 11.56% and a net margin of 5.74%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th were paid a $0.3275 dividend. This is a positive change from Energy Transfer's previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. 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 7.16%. Energy Transfer's dividend payout ratio is 99.24%.

About Energy Transfer

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.