Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC Purchases New Position in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET)

Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC acquired a new position in shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 66,532 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,297,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Energy Transfer by 44.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 33,379,297 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $535,738,000 after buying an additional 10,195,768 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Energy Transfer by 1,491.0% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,175,731 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $67,020,000 after acquiring an additional 3,913,266 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 36.7% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 11,563,478 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $185,594,000 after acquiring an additional 3,106,631 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 45.9% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 9,581,762 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $153,787,000 after purchasing an additional 3,013,973 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 1,837.4% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,338,885 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $21,489,000 after purchasing an additional 1,269,778 shares in the last quarter. 38.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Energy Transfer Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of Energy Transfer stock opened at $19.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $67.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.49, a P/E/G ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.70. Energy Transfer LP has a 52-week low of $13.60 and a 52-week high of $20.02. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $18.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.03.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.32. The company had revenue of $20.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.59 billion. Energy Transfer had a net margin of 5.90% and a return on equity of 12.38%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.31 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.32 EPS for the current year.

Energy Transfer Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a $0.3225 dividend. This represents a $1.29 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.54%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is currently 94.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ET has been the subject of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Energy Transfer from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America began coverage on Energy Transfer in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Energy Transfer from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Energy Transfer from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.55.

Energy Transfer Company 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.