Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) Shares Bought by Sandy Spring Bank

Sandy Spring Bank raised its position in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) by 24.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 5,550 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,100 shares during the period. Sandy Spring Bank’s holdings in Energy Transfer were worth $109,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 44.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 33,379,297 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $535,738,000 after acquiring an additional 10,195,768 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 23,987,750 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $469,920,000 after acquiring an additional 1,723,683 shares during the last quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 15,738,594 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $308,319,000 after acquiring an additional 388,073 shares during the last quarter. Brookfield Corp ON lifted its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Brookfield Corp ON now owns 13,139,924 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $210,896,000 after acquiring an additional 352,625 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in Energy Transfer by 36.7% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 11,563,478 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $185,594,000 after buying an additional 3,106,631 shares during the period. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Energy Transfer from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Energy Transfer from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Energy Transfer from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.55.

Energy Transfer Trading Down 1.1 %

NYSE ET opened at $18.65 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $19.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $18.26. The company has a market capitalization of $63.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.72. Energy Transfer LP has a 12 month low of $14.90 and a 12 month high of $21.45.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The pipeline company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.06). Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 11.56% and a net margin of 5.74%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 19th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a dividend of $0.325 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.97%. This is a boost from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio is currently 101.56%.

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.