Stephens Inc. AR Sells 14,165 Shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET)

Stephens Inc. AR reduced its position in shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,021,444 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 14,165 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Energy Transfer were worth $14,096,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Energy Transfer by 14.5% in the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 73,666,501 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,033,541,000 after buying an additional 9,341,798 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Energy Transfer by 38.3% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 25,621,485 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $353,576,000 after buying an additional 7,097,074 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in Energy Transfer by 18.5% in the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 25,423,547 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $350,845,000 after buying an additional 3,976,676 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Energy Transfer by 1,447.6% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,756,955 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $518,460,000 after buying an additional 3,514,195 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG lifted its position in Energy Transfer by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 28,642,769 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $395,270,000 after buying an additional 3,368,427 shares during the last quarter. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ET. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Energy Transfer from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Mizuho reissued a “buy” rating and set a $19.00 target price (up from $18.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Energy Transfer from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Energy Transfer currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.43.

Energy Transfer Stock Performance

ET stock opened at $15.49 on Friday. Energy Transfer LP has a 1-year low of $12.46 and a 1-year high of $16.40. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $15.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $14.79. The company has a market capitalization of $52.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.21, a PEG ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.00.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The pipeline company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.04). Energy Transfer had a net margin of 4.85% and a return on equity of 12.22%. The business had revenue of $21.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.91 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.32 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th were issued a dividend of $0.317 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.19%. This is a positive change from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio is currently 116.51%.

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.