Energy Transfer LP $ET Shares Sold by Empirical Finance LLC

Empirical Finance LLC lowered its stake in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) by 26.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,037,614 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 367,142 shares during the period. Energy Transfer accounts for 0.8% of Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Energy Transfer were worth $19,839,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ET. Arrow Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 4.9% during the second quarter. Arrow Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,866 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $208,000 after buying an additional 505 shares during the last quarter. Argent Trust Co raised its stake in Energy Transfer by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 26,035 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $498,000 after acquiring an additional 529 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming raised its stake in Energy Transfer by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 22,822 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $436,000 after acquiring an additional 548 shares during the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH lifted its position in Energy Transfer by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 219,232 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,231,000 after acquiring an additional 556 shares during the period. Finally, Cascade Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in Energy Transfer by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Cascade Financial Partners LLC now owns 72,645 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,389,000 after acquiring an additional 560 shares during the period. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Energy Transfer Stock Performance

ET traded up $0.01 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $21.50. 6,984,750 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,893,168. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. Energy Transfer LP has a 1-year low of $16.18 and a 1-year high of $21.77.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $34.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.71 billion. Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 11.55% and a net margin of 4.87%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 78.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 7th were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This is a positive change from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 7th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.3%. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is presently 92.52%.

Insider Activity at Energy Transfer

In other news, Director Kelcy L. Warren acquired 647,968 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was bought at an average price of $21.26 per share, with a total value of $13,775,799.68. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 147,901,879 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,144,393,947.54. This represents a 0.44% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director James Perry acquired 12,359 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 7th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $20.23 per share, with a total value of $250,022.57. Following the transaction, the director owned 208,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,208,770.58. This trade represents a 6.32% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have bought 1,012,359 shares of company stock valued at $21,513,543. Insiders own 3.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on ET. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $23.00 price target (up from $21.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. Truist Financial upped their target price on Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Energy Transfer from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Finally, Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $24.17.

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.