Wells Fargo & Company MN Increases Stock Holdings in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET)

Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its stake in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) by 3.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,807,718 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 303,253 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned 0.28% of Energy Transfer worth $121,547,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Energy Transfer by 14.5% during the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 73,666,501 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,033,541,000 after purchasing an additional 9,341,798 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 38.3% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 25,621,485 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $353,576,000 after buying an additional 7,097,074 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Energy Transfer by 1,447.6% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,756,955 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $518,460,000 after purchasing an additional 3,514,195 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased its position in Energy Transfer by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 28,642,769 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $395,270,000 after purchasing an additional 3,368,427 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in Energy Transfer during the 3rd quarter worth about $42,932,000. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Energy Transfer from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Mizuho restated a “buy” rating and issued a $19.00 price target (up previously from $18.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Thursday, April 18th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Energy Transfer from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $18.43.

Energy Transfer Stock Performance

NYSE ET opened at $15.73 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.43 and a beta of 1.63. Energy Transfer LP has a 1-year low of $12.31 and a 1-year high of $16.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $15.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $14.62.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The pipeline company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $21.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.91 billion. Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 12.22% and a net margin of 4.85%. The business’s revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.32 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 20th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th were given a dividend of $0.317 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. 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 8.06%. 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.