Howard Financial Services LTD. Increases Stock Holdings in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET)

Howard Financial Services LTD. lifted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) by 1.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 162,702 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 2,898 shares during the quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD.’s holdings in Energy Transfer were worth $2,559,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. NBC Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 2,326 shares during the period. Mutual Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Energy Transfer by 112.9% during the 4th quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 146,943 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,028,000 after purchasing an additional 77,938 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in Energy Transfer by 95.8% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 145,894 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,013,000 after purchasing an additional 71,386 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC increased its holdings in Energy Transfer by 19.7% during the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 26,335 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $363,000 after purchasing an additional 4,340 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Energy Transfer by 230.9% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 736,634 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $10,335,000 after purchasing an additional 513,989 shares during the last quarter. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Energy Transfer from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Mizuho lifted their target price on Energy Transfer from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Energy Transfer from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Energy Transfer from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.29.

Energy Transfer Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ET traded up $0.19 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $16.22. 12,577,899 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,892,299. The company has a market cap of $54.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.88, a PEG ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.63. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $15.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $14.97. Energy Transfer LP has a 52 week low of $12.46 and a 52 week high of $16.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.00.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $21.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.32 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 20th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th were issued a $0.317 dividend. This is an increase from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is presently 116.51%.

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.