Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC Sells 75,180 Shares of Energy Transfer LP $ET

Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) by 3.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,939,020 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 75,180 shares during the period. Energy Transfer makes up about 0.7% of Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Energy Transfer were worth $37,423,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ET. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Energy Transfer by 41.6% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 86,310,272 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,423,256,000 after buying an additional 25,366,594 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 83,843,087 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,382,573,000 after buying an additional 6,192,066 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 57,862,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $992,923,000 after acquiring an additional 1,773,042 shares in the last quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. increased its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 38,675,828 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $637,764,000 after acquiring an additional 103,245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Energy Income Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 23,351,183 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $400,706,000 after acquiring an additional 326,653 shares during the period. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ET. Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and set a $23.00 price objective (up from $22.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and issued a $24.00 target price (up from $23.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.55.

Energy Transfer Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE ET opened at $20.30 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $69.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $19.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $18.84. Energy Transfer LP has a 1 year low of $16.18 and a 1 year high of $20.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $27.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.78 billion. Energy Transfer had a net margin of 4.66% and a return on equity of 9.77%. Energy Transfer’s revenue was up 32.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.36 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 8th were issued a $0.3375 dividend. This is a boost from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.35 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 8th. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio is 112.50%.

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.