Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET)

Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) by 1.6% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 375,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 6,181 shares during the period. Energy Transfer comprises about 1.2% of Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Energy Transfer were worth $6,984,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Energy Transfer by 15.7% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 38,634,018 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $756,840,000 after purchasing an additional 5,254,721 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 23,987,750 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $469,920,000 after buying an additional 1,723,683 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 19,776,221 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $387,416,000 after buying an additional 1,093,381 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 18.2% during the fourth quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 16,331,220 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $319,929,000 after buying an additional 2,512,060 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis lifted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Natixis now owns 14,619,124 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $286,389,000 after buying an additional 962,800 shares during the period. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ET has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Energy Transfer from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Energy Transfer from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Monday, March 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Energy Transfer has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.64.

Energy Transfer Trading Down 2.1%

NYSE ET opened at $17.53 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $17.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $18.62. Energy Transfer LP has a one year low of $14.60 and a one year high of $21.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $60.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.70, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.77.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.03. Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 11.56% and a net margin of 5.74%. The company had revenue of $21.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.28 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.32 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.46 EPS for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Friday, May 9th were issued a $0.3275 dividend. This is a positive change from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. This represents a $1.31 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 9th. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is currently 99.24%.

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.