Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Increases Stake in Energy Transfer LP $ET

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,124,192 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 99,586 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Energy Transfer were worth $18,740,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ET. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 9.3% in the second quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 21,353,476 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $387,139,000 after purchasing an additional 1,825,391 shares during the period. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT raised its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 14.3% during the 3rd quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT now owns 8,211,600 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $140,911,000 after purchasing an additional 1,029,000 shares during the period. Eagle Global Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Energy Transfer by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Eagle Global Advisors LLC now owns 6,466,059 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $110,958,000 after buying an additional 363,623 shares in the last quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY boosted its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 2.6% in the third quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 5,351,145 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $91,826,000 after acquiring an additional 136,507 shares during the period. Finally, Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. boosted its holdings in Energy Transfer by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 5,045,747 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $91,479,000 after purchasing an additional 47,140 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 38.22% of the company’s stock.

Energy Transfer Trading Up 1.1%

NYSE ET opened at $17.63 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $60.53 billion, a PE ratio of 14.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.66. Energy Transfer LP has a 1-year low of $14.60 and a 1-year high of $21.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $16.69 and a 200-day moving average of $17.06.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.34 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $19.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.84 billion. Energy Transfer had a net margin of 5.66% and a return on equity of 10.71%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.32 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.46 EPS for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 19th. Investors of record on Friday, November 7th were paid a $0.3325 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 7th. This is a boost from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. This represents a $1.33 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.5%. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is 106.40%.

Insider Transactions at Energy Transfer

In other Energy Transfer news, Director Kelcy L. Warren acquired 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 19th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $16.95 per share, for a total transaction of $16,950,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 104,577,803 shares in the company, valued at $1,772,593,760.85. This represents a 0.97% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 3.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ET has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Wednesday, December 24th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Energy Transfer from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $22.00 target price (down from $25.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Energy Transfer has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.50.

Energy Transfer Profile

Energy Transfer (NYSE: ET) is a Dallas-based midstream energy company that develops and operates infrastructure for the transportation, storage and processing of hydrocarbons. The company’s operations focus on moving and storing natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), crude oil and refined products through an integrated network of pipelines, terminals, storage facilities and processing plants. Energy Transfer provides core midstream services such as gathering, compression, fractionation, processing, and bulk transportation to support production and downstream supply chains.

Its asset base spans an extensive network across the United States, connecting producing regions, processing centers, petrochemical hubs and coastal and inland markets.