Virtu Financial LLC Takes Position in Energy Transfer LP $ET

Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 344,370 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,679,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ET. North Star Investment Management Corp. boosted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 100.1% in the fourth quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 161,523 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,664,000 after acquiring an additional 80,786 shares during the period. Texas Yale Capital Corp. boosted its stake in Energy Transfer by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Texas Yale Capital Corp. now owns 1,311,965 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $21,634,000 after purchasing an additional 75,700 shares during the period. Avior Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 436.6% during the fourth quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 90,160 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,487,000 after buying an additional 73,359 shares during the last quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 277.6% in the third quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 219,083 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,759,000 after buying an additional 161,067 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in Energy Transfer by 2.6% during the third quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 21,898,420 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $375,777,000 after acquiring an additional 544,944 shares in the last quarter. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ET has been the topic of several research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Friday, June 5th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on Energy Transfer in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $23.00 price objective on the stock. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and set a $23.00 target price (up from $22.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.45.

Energy Transfer Stock Performance

NYSE:ET opened at $18.77 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $64.60 billion, a PE ratio of 15.64, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.55. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $19.43 and its 200 day moving average is $18.42. Energy Transfer LP has a fifty-two week low of $16.18 and a fifty-two week high of $20.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.17.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.05). Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 9.77% and a net margin of 4.66%.The firm had revenue of $27.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.78 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.36 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 32.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 8th were paid a dividend of $0.3375 per share. This is a positive change from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.35 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 8th. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is currently 112.50%.

Energy Transfer Profile

Energy Transfer (NYSE: ET) is a Dallas-based midstream energy company that develops and operates infrastructure for the transportation, storage and processing of hydrocarbons. The company’s operations focus on moving and storing natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), crude oil and refined products through an integrated network of pipelines, terminals, storage facilities and processing plants. Energy Transfer provides core midstream services such as gathering, compression, fractionation, processing, and bulk transportation to support production and downstream supply chains.

Its asset base spans an extensive network across the United States, connecting producing regions, processing centers, petrochemical hubs and coastal and inland markets.