Northern Trust Corp Acquires 738,885 Shares of Energy Transfer LP $ET

Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) by 223.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,069,534 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 738,885 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp’s holdings in Energy Transfer were worth $19,883,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 12.9% in the first quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 75,353,994 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,400,831,000 after acquiring an additional 8,613,645 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 0.8% in the first quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 24,170,455 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $449,329,000 after acquiring an additional 182,705 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 5.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,093,381 shares during the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 2.8% in the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 16,787,080 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $312,072,000 after acquiring an additional 455,860 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BROOKFIELD Corp ON raised its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 13,750,386 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $269,370,000 after acquiring an additional 610,462 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 38.22% of the company’s stock.

Energy Transfer Stock Performance

ET stock opened at $17.73 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $17.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.78. Energy Transfer LP has a fifty-two week low of $14.60 and a fifty-two week high of $21.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.84 billion, a PE ratio of 13.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.85.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32. Energy Transfer had a net margin of 5.80% and a return on equity of 11.08%. The firm had revenue of $19.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.07 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.35 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.46 EPS for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 8th were issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 8th. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.4%. This is a boost from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 102.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Energy Transfer news, Director James Richard Perry sold 1,369 shares of Energy Transfer stock in a transaction on Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.48, for a total transaction of $25,299.12. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 24,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $453,185.04. The trade was a 5.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kelcy L. Warren bought 1,350,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $17.36 per share, with a total value of $23,436,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 69,178,477 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,200,938,360.72. This trade represents a 1.99% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on ET shares. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Monday, July 7th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Energy Transfer from $25.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 19th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Monday, July 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $22.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Energy Transfer from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.50.

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.