GDS Wealth Management Invests $229,000 in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET)

GDS Wealth Management acquired a new position in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 16,560 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $229,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rise Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Energy Transfer by 88.2% in the 4th quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,978 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 927 shares during the period. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in Energy Transfer by 42.9% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 2,500 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 750 shares during the period. Community Bank N.A. grew its stake in Energy Transfer by 55.9% during the fourth quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 2,651 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 951 shares in the last quarter. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Energy Transfer in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in Energy Transfer in the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ET has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup upped their price objective on Energy Transfer from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Energy Transfer from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Mizuho restated a “buy” rating and set a $19.00 price target (up previously from $18.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $18.14.

Energy Transfer Stock Performance

Shares of Energy Transfer stock traded down $0.11 on Friday, hitting $15.80. The stock had a trading volume of 4,886,586 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,227,638. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $15.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $14.44. Energy Transfer LP has a 52-week low of $12.21 and a 52-week high of $16.40. The stock has a market cap of $53.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.89 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The pipeline company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.04). Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 12.17% and a net margin of 4.85%. The firm had revenue of $21.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.91 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. Energy Transfer’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.56 EPS for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.317 per share. This represents a $1.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.03%. This is a boost from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 10th. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio is presently 116.51%.

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.