Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC Reduces Stake in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET)

Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC reduced its position in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) by 12.4% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 102,832 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 14,577 shares during the period. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Energy Transfer were worth $1,668,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. lifted its position in Energy Transfer by 12.7% during the second quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 36,668,846 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $594,769,000 after purchasing an additional 4,141,715 shares in the last quarter. First Reserve GP XIII Ltd purchased a new position in Energy Transfer during the fourth quarter valued at $322,097,000. Natixis lifted its position in Energy Transfer by 20.0% during the first quarter. Natixis now owns 18,020,559 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $283,463,000 after purchasing an additional 2,999,300 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its position in Energy Transfer by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 16,785,510 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $231,640,000 after purchasing an additional 1,085,240 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chickasaw Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Energy Transfer by 2.9% during the second quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 14,883,956 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $241,418,000 after purchasing an additional 425,323 shares in the last quarter. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Energy Transfer Price Performance

NYSE:ET opened at $16.20 on Monday. Energy Transfer LP has a 52 week low of $12.90 and a 52 week high of $16.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $16.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $15.83. The stock has a market cap of $54.59 billion, a PE ratio of 14.86, a P/E/G ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 1.66.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The pipeline company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.01). Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 12.74% and a net margin of 5.19%. The firm had revenue of $20.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.01 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.25 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.90%. This is a boost from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is 117.43%.

Insider Transactions at Energy Transfer

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on ET shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Energy Transfer from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Mizuho lifted their target price on Energy Transfer from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Energy Transfer from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.