Gray Wealth Management Inc. Increases Position in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET)

Gray Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) by 14.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,925 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,581 shares during the period. Gray Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Energy Transfer were worth $289,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mutual Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Energy Transfer by 112.9% in the fourth quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 146,943 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,028,000 after acquiring an additional 77,938 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake 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 buying an additional 513,989 shares during the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors grew its stake in Energy Transfer by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 28,250 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $390,000 after buying an additional 903 shares during the last quarter. Fractal Investments LLC increased its position in Energy Transfer by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fractal Investments LLC now owns 5,682,061 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $79,719,000 after buying an additional 647,885 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. raised its stake in Energy Transfer by 22.5% in the third quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 421,372 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $5,912,000 after buying an additional 77,352 shares during the last quarter. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Energy Transfer Stock Performance

NYSE:ET traded up $0.30 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $15.53. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 15,791,011 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,503,741. Energy Transfer LP has a fifty-two week low of $12.18 and a fifty-two week high of $16.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market cap of $52.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.35 and a beta of 1.64. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $15.12 and its 200-day moving average is $14.22.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The pipeline company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.08. Energy Transfer had a net margin of 4.85% and a return on equity of 12.17%. The business had revenue of $20.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.34 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 7th were paid a dividend of $0.315 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 6th. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.11%. This is a positive change from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 115.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ET has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their price target on Energy Transfer from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Mizuho reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $19.00 price target (up previously from $18.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $17.71.

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.