HighTower Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Energy Transfer LP $ET

HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) by 1.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,108,300 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 47,218 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC owned 0.09% of Energy Transfer worth $53,338,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ET. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 4.5% during the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 77,651,021 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,332,492,000 after acquiring an additional 3,366,734 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in Energy Transfer by 9.3% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT boosted its holdings in Energy Transfer by 14.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Eagle Global Advisors LLC increased its position 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 worth $110,958,000 after purchasing an additional 363,623 shares during the period. Finally, Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY raised its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 5,351,145 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $91,826,000 after buying an additional 136,507 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.22% of the company’s stock.

Energy Transfer Trading Up 2.8%

NYSE:ET opened at $18.77 on Tuesday. Energy Transfer LP has a 52-week low of $14.60 and a 52-week high of $20.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $17.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.13. The company has a market capitalization of $64.43 billion, a PE ratio of 15.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.66.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 6th will be issued a $0.335 dividend. This represents a $1.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.1%. This is a boost from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 6th. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is currently 107.20%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on ET shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Wednesday, December 24th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of Energy Transfer to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $22.00 price objective (down previously from $25.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Monday, January 12th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.36.

Insider Activity at Energy Transfer

In related news, Director Kelcy L. Warren acquired 1,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 19th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $16.95 per share, for a total transaction of $16,950,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 104,577,803 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,772,593,760.85. This trade represents a 0.97% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 3.28% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.