Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Grows Position in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) by 31.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,140 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,963 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Energy Transfer were worth $132,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ET. Berkley W R Corp boosted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 11.6% during the first quarter. Berkley W R Corp now owns 5,334,494 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $83,912,000 after purchasing an additional 555,445 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. boosted its position in Energy Transfer by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 56,366 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $886,000 after acquiring an additional 2,326 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 95.8% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 145,894 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,013,000 after acquiring an additional 71,386 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 491.3% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 1,290,364 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $20,297,000 after acquiring an additional 1,072,144 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 549,971 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,651,000 after purchasing an additional 15,097 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 38.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho upped their price objective on Energy Transfer from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Energy Transfer from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Energy Transfer from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Energy Transfer has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.14.

Energy Transfer Trading Down 1.8 %

NYSE ET opened at $15.92 on Friday. Energy Transfer LP has a 12-month low of $12.90 and a 12-month high of $16.50. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $16.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38. The stock has a market cap of $53.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.60, a P/E/G ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.66.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The pipeline company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $20.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.01 billion. Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 12.74% and a net margin of 5.19%. The business’s revenue was up 13.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.25 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 19th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.04%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. This is an increase from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio is 117.43%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Energy Transfer news, EVP Gregory G. Mcilwain acquired 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $15.68 per share, with a total value of $313,600.00. Following the acquisition, the executive vice president now directly owns 591,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,270,188.48. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Kelcy L. Warren purchased 3,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $15.68 per share, with a total value of $47,040,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 123,385,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,934,686,992. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Gregory G. Mcilwain acquired 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $15.68 per share, for a total transaction of $313,600.00. Following the purchase, the executive vice president now directly owns 591,211 shares in the company, valued at $9,270,188.48. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders acquired 3,040,000 shares of company stock valued at $47,667,200. 3.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.