Highland Capital Management LLC Increases Holdings in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET)

Highland Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) by 29.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 45,770 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,350 shares during the period. Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Energy Transfer were worth $632,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 109,332.4% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 145,943,387 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,732,348,000 after buying an additional 145,810,023 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 20.9% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 76,339,168 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $906,146,000 after purchasing an additional 13,220,435 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Energy Transfer by 14.5% in the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 73,666,501 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,033,541,000 after buying an additional 9,341,798 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its holdings in Energy Transfer by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 25,274,342 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $354,599,000 after buying an additional 953,251 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in Energy Transfer by 0.8% during the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 22,600,697 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $252,902,000 after buying an additional 184,203 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Energy Transfer from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $17.57.

Energy Transfer Price Performance

Energy Transfer stock opened at $15.54 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.10. The company has a market cap of $52.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.26 and a beta of 1.64. Energy Transfer LP has a 1 year low of $11.79 and a 1 year high of $15.74. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $14.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $14.01.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The pipeline company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $20.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.46 billion. Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 12.17% and a net margin of 4.85%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.34 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 7th were given a dividend of $0.315 per share. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 6th. This is an increase from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio is 115.60%.

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.