Sunbelt Securities Inc. Boosts Holdings in Energy Transfer LP $ET

Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) by 16.4% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 206,959 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 29,145 shares during the quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc.’s holdings in Energy Transfer were worth $3,551,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 517,061 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,873,000 after buying an additional 4,943 shares during the period. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP boosted its holdings in Energy Transfer by 202.6% in the third quarter. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP now owns 399,188 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $6,850,000 after acquiring an additional 267,264 shares during the last quarter. Second Line Capital LLC grew its position in Energy Transfer by 18.0% during the third quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 30,962 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $531,000 after acquiring an additional 4,725 shares during the period. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP purchased a new stake in Energy Transfer during the third quarter valued at about $52,000. Finally, Greenline Partners LLC increased its stake in Energy Transfer by 54.4% during the third quarter. Greenline Partners LLC now owns 27,326 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $469,000 after acquiring an additional 9,628 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.22% of the company’s stock.

Energy Transfer Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of ET opened at $18.79 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $18.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.31. The stock has a market cap of $64.65 billion, a PE ratio of 15.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.63. Energy Transfer LP has a 12 month low of $14.60 and a 12 month high of $19.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.90.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The pipeline company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $25.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.56 billion. Energy Transfer had a net margin of 5.11% and a return on equity of 10.17%. Energy Transfer’s quarterly revenue was up 29.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.29 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 6th were issued a $0.335 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 6th. This represents a $1.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.1%. This is a boost from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 110.74%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on ET. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Friday, January 16th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Energy Transfer from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $22.00 price objective (down from $25.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Energy Transfer presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.60.

About Energy Transfer

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.