Larson Financial Group LLC Boosts Stake in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET)

Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) by 7.3% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 16,688 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,137 shares during the quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Energy Transfer were worth $271,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Berkley W R Corp boosted its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 11.6% in the 1st quarter. Berkley W R Corp now owns 5,334,494 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $83,912,000 after purchasing an additional 555,445 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. boosted its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 56,366 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $886,000 after purchasing an additional 2,326 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 95.8% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 145,894 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,013,000 after purchasing an additional 71,386 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in Energy Transfer by 491.3% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 1,290,364 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $20,297,000 after acquiring an additional 1,072,144 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new position in Energy Transfer in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,368,000. 38.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Energy Transfer

In related news, Director Kelcy L. Warren acquired 3,000,000 shares of Energy Transfer stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $15.68 per share, for a total transaction of $47,040,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 123,385,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,934,686,992. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Kelcy L. Warren acquired 3,000,000 shares of Energy Transfer stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $15.68 per share, for a total transaction of $47,040,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 123,385,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,934,686,992. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Thomas E. Long acquired 20,000 shares of Energy Transfer stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $15.68 per share, with a total value of $313,600.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,308,859 shares in the company, valued at $67,562,909.12. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased 3,040,000 shares of company stock worth $47,667,200 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.28% of the company’s stock.

Energy Transfer Price Performance

Shares of ET opened at $15.90 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $53.58 billion, a PE ratio of 14.59, a P/E/G ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $16.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.73. Energy Transfer LP has a 1-year low of $12.90 and a 1-year high of $16.50.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The pipeline company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $20.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.01 billion. Energy Transfer had a net margin of 5.19% and a return on equity of 12.74%. Energy Transfer’s quarterly revenue was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.25 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.4 EPS for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 9th were paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. This is a positive change from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.05%. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is currently 117.43%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group upped their price objective on Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Energy Transfer from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Energy Transfer from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Energy Transfer from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Energy Transfer presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.29.

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.