Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT Grows Stake in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET)

Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT increased its position in shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) by 25.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 12,990 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,600 shares during the quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT’s holdings in Energy Transfer were worth $211,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ET. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Energy Transfer in the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Energy Transfer during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Adirondack Trust Co. purchased a new position in Energy Transfer during the fourth quarter worth $42,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Energy Transfer in the second quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Hudson Edge Investment Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Energy Transfer in the second quarter valued at $42,000. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on ET. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Energy Transfer from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Energy Transfer from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Energy Transfer from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.14.

Insider Activity

In other Energy Transfer news, EVP Gregory G. Mcilwain acquired 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $15.68 per share, for a total transaction of $313,600.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the executive vice president now directly owns 591,211 shares in the company, valued at $9,270,188.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Gregory G. Mcilwain acquired 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $15.68 per share, with a total value of $313,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 591,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,270,188.48. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kelcy L. Warren bought 3,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $15.68 per share, with a total value of $47,040,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 123,385,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,934,686,992. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought 3,040,000 shares of company stock valued at $47,667,200 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.28% of the company’s stock.

Energy Transfer Price Performance

ET opened at $16.20 on Friday. Energy Transfer LP has a 1 year low of $12.90 and a 1 year high of $16.50. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $16.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $54.58 billion, a PE ratio of 14.86, a P/E/G ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.14.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last announced its quarterly 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.01 billion. Energy Transfer had a net margin of 5.19% and a return on equity of 12.74%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.25 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.4 EPS for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.90%. This is an increase from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 117.43%.

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.