Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C Makes New Investment in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET)

Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C purchased a new stake in shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 26,024 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $422,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Aveo Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 133,559 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,843,000 after buying an additional 1,663 shares during the period. 9258 Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Energy Transfer in the fourth quarter worth about $645,000. US Bancorp DE increased its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 95.8% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 145,894 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,013,000 after purchasing an additional 71,386 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 313,488 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,326,000 after purchasing an additional 5,476 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. ADV purchased a new stake in shares of Energy Transfer in the 4th quarter worth approximately $288,000. Institutional investors own 38.22% of the company’s stock.

Energy Transfer Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ET opened at $16.07 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.14. The firm has a market cap of $54.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.66. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.85. Energy Transfer LP has a fifty-two week low of $12.90 and a fifty-two week high of $16.50.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The pipeline company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.01). Energy Transfer had a net margin of 5.19% and a return on equity of 12.74%. The company had revenue of $20.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.25 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were paid a $0.32 dividend. This is an increase from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 117.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Thomas E. Long bought 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 12th. The shares were bought at an average price of $15.68 per share, with a total value of $313,600.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 4,308,859 shares in the company, valued at $67,562,909.12. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Kelcy L. Warren acquired 3,000,000 shares of Energy Transfer stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $15.68 per share, for a total transaction of $47,040,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 123,385,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,934,686,992. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Thomas E. Long bought 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The shares were bought at an average price of $15.68 per share, for a total transaction of $313,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,308,859 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,562,909.12. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought 3,040,000 shares of company stock valued at $47,667,200 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on 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 lifted their price target on Energy Transfer from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Energy Transfer from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Energy Transfer presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.14.

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.