GDS Wealth Management Buys Shares of 16,560 Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET)

GDS Wealth Management purchased a new position in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 16,560 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $229,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mutual Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Energy Transfer by 112.9% during the fourth quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 146,943 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,028,000 after buying an additional 77,938 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC grew its holdings in Energy Transfer by 19.7% in the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 26,335 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $363,000 after purchasing an additional 4,340 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 230.9% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 736,634 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $10,335,000 after buying an additional 513,989 shares during the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors lifted its stake in Energy Transfer by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 28,250 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $390,000 after acquiring an additional 903 shares during the period. Finally, Fractal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Energy Transfer by 12.9% in the third quarter. Fractal Investments LLC now owns 5,682,061 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $79,719,000 after acquiring an additional 647,885 shares during the period. 38.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on ET shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Energy Transfer from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Citigroup upped their price target on Energy Transfer from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Mizuho reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $19.00 target price (up from $18.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Energy Transfer currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.14.

Energy Transfer Stock Performance

ET stock traded down $0.11 on Friday, reaching $15.80. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,886,586 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,227,638. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Energy Transfer LP has a 52 week low of $12.21 and a 52 week high of $16.40. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $15.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $14.44. The company has a market capitalization of $53.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.89 and a beta of 1.63.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The pipeline company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $21.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.91 billion. Energy Transfer had a net margin of 4.85% and a return on equity of 12.17%. Energy Transfer’s revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th will be issued a $0.317 dividend. This is a positive change from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.03%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is 116.51%.

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.