Cetera Investment Advisers Boosts Holdings in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET)

Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET - Free Report) by 491.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,290,364 shares of the pipeline company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,072,144 shares during the quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers' holdings in Energy Transfer were worth $20,297,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ET. First Reserve GP XIII Ltd bought a new position in Energy Transfer in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $322,097,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Energy Transfer by 38.3% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 25,621,485 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $353,576,000 after buying an additional 7,097,074 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in Energy Transfer by 18.5% during the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 25,423,547 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $350,845,000 after buying an additional 3,976,676 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG raised its stake in Energy Transfer by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 28,642,769 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $395,270,000 after buying an additional 3,368,427 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis raised its stake in Energy Transfer by 20.0% during the 1st quarter. Natixis now owns 18,020,559 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $283,463,000 after buying an additional 2,999,300 shares during the last quarter. 38.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ET. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Energy Transfer from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Energy Transfer from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Energy Transfer from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. UBS Group raised their target price on Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Energy Transfer from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $19.29.

Energy Transfer Stock Performance

Energy Transfer stock traded down $0.24 during trading on Friday, reaching $15.95. The company had a trading volume of 20,932,387 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,857,116. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $15.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 1.66. Energy Transfer LP has a 52 week low of $12.46 and a 52 week high of $16.50.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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). The business had revenue of $21.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.91 billion. Energy Transfer had a net margin of 4.85% and a return on equity of 12.22%. Energy Transfer's revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 9th. This is a boost from Energy Transfer's previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.03%. Energy Transfer's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 116.51%.

About Energy Transfer

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.