Level Four Advisory Services LLC Boosts Holdings in Energy Transfer LP $ET

Level Four Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) by 22.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 190,758 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 35,130 shares during the quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Energy Transfer were worth $3,458,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ET. Ryan Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Energy Transfer in the second quarter worth $31,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC bought a new stake in Energy Transfer in the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. CNB Bank lifted its stake in Energy Transfer by 111.1% in the 2nd quarter. CNB Bank now owns 1,900 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Energy Transfer in the 1st quarter worth $38,000. Finally, N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Energy Transfer during the 1st quarter valued at about $40,000. Institutional investors own 38.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ET shares. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Energy Transfer from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $17.00 price objective on Energy Transfer and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 24th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.92.

Insider Buying and Selling at Energy Transfer

In other news, Director Kelcy L. Warren bought 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 19th. The stock was purchased 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,772,593,760.85. The trade was a 0.97% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.28% of the company’s stock.

Energy Transfer Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of NYSE ET opened at $16.69 on Friday. Energy Transfer LP has a 1-year low of $14.60 and a 1-year high of $21.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The business’s 50 day moving average is $16.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.93, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.76.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $19.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.84 billion. Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 11.08% and a net margin of 5.80%.Energy Transfer’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.46 EPS for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 7th were given a dividend of $0.3325 per share. This represents a $1.33 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.0%. This is a positive change from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 7th. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 106.40%.

Energy Transfer Profile

Energy Transfer LP provides energy-related services. The company owns and operates natural gas transportation pipeline, and natural gas storage facilities in Texas and Oklahoma; and approximately 20,090 miles of interstate natural gas pipeline. It also sells natural gas to electric utilities, independent power plants, local distribution and other marketing companies, and industrial end-users.