Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI Invests $79.11 Million in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET)

Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI acquired a new position in shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 4,038,442 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $79,113,000. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI owned 0.12% of Energy Transfer at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Energy Transfer by 15.7% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 38,634,018 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $756,840,000 after purchasing an additional 5,254,721 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP increased its position in Energy Transfer by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 23,987,750 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $469,920,000 after purchasing an additional 1,723,683 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 19,776,221 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $387,416,000 after buying an additional 1,093,381 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 18.2% in the 4th quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 16,331,220 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $319,929,000 after buying an additional 2,512,060 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis boosted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Natixis now owns 14,619,124 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $286,389,000 after buying an additional 962,800 shares in the last quarter. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ET. Mizuho increased their price objective on Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $23.00 price target on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Energy Transfer from $25.00 to $23.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Monday, March 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $22.64.

Energy Transfer Price Performance

Shares of ET stock traded up $0.11 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $17.87. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,046,333 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,489,534. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The business has a fifty day moving average of $17.45 and a 200-day moving average of $18.58. Energy Transfer LP has a twelve month low of $14.60 and a twelve month high of $21.45. The stock has a market cap of $61.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.96, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.77.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.03. Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 11.56% and a net margin of 5.74%. The business had revenue of $21.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.32 EPS. The company's revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.46 EPS for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 9th were issued a dividend of $0.3275 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 9th. This is an increase from Energy Transfer's previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. This represents a $1.31 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.33%. Energy Transfer's payout ratio is currently 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.