Whipplewood Advisors LLC Invests $582,000 in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET)

Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 29,691 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $582,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ET. FMR LLC increased its stake in Energy Transfer by 44.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 33,379,297 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $535,738,000 after purchasing an additional 10,195,768 shares in the last quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 15,738,594 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $308,319,000 after buying an additional 388,073 shares during the period. Brookfield Corp ON boosted its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 2.8% in the third quarter. Brookfield Corp ON now owns 13,139,924 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $210,896,000 after buying an additional 352,625 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 36.7% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 11,563,478 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $185,594,000 after acquiring an additional 3,106,631 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 45.9% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 9,581,762 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $153,787,000 after acquiring an additional 3,013,973 shares during the period. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Energy Transfer Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of Energy Transfer stock opened at $19.15 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $65.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.96, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.69. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.98. Energy Transfer LP has a 52-week low of $14.52 and a 52-week high of $21.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The pipeline company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.06). Energy Transfer had a net margin of 5.74% and a return on equity of 11.56%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 19th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $0.325 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This is a boost from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.79%. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio is currently 101.56%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on ET. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Energy Transfer from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Energy Transfer from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays upped their price target on Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Energy Transfer from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Energy Transfer from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Energy Transfer presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.55.

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.