NorthRock Partners LLC Cuts Holdings in Energy Transfer LP $ET

NorthRock Partners LLC reduced its position in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 39,192 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,274 shares during the period. NorthRock Partners LLC’s holdings in Energy Transfer were worth $711,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its position in Energy Transfer by 12.9% in the first quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 75,353,994 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,400,831,000 after purchasing an additional 8,613,645 shares during the period. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. raised its position in Energy Transfer by 2.6% in the first quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 38,205,495 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $710,240,000 after purchasing an additional 951,656 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP raised its position in Energy Transfer by 0.8% in the first quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 24,170,455 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $449,329,000 after purchasing an additional 182,705 shares during the period. Energy Income Partners LLC raised its position in Energy Transfer by 12.0% in the first quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 23,120,066 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $429,802,000 after purchasing an additional 2,471,401 shares during the period. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its position in Energy Transfer by 2.8% in the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 16,787,080 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $312,072,000 after purchasing an additional 455,860 shares during the period. 38.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ET has been the topic of several research reports. Cowen initiated coverage on Energy Transfer in a research report on Monday, July 7th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Energy Transfer from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $23.00 price objective (up from $21.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Scotiabank assumed coverage on Energy Transfer in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $23.00 target price for the company. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kelcy L. Warren purchased 1,350,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $17.36 per share, for a total transaction of $23,436,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 69,178,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,200,938,360.72. This trade represents a 1.99% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.28% of the company’s stock.

Energy Transfer Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of Energy Transfer stock opened at $16.54 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $17.29 and a 200-day moving average of $17.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The company has a market capitalization of $56.76 billion, a PE ratio of 12.82, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.78. Energy Transfer LP has a 1-year low of $14.60 and a 1-year high of $21.45.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32. The business had revenue of $19.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.07 billion. Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 11.08% and a net margin of 5.80%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.35 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 19th. Investors of record on Friday, August 8th were paid a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.0%. This is a positive change from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 8th. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is 102.33%.

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.