Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Acquires 192,154 Shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) by 8.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,461,055 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 192,154 shares during the quarter. Energy Transfer comprises approximately 0.7% of Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System owned about 0.08% of Energy Transfer worth $33,963,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 14.5% in the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 73,666,501 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,033,541,000 after acquiring an additional 9,341,798 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Energy Transfer by 38.3% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 25,621,485 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $353,576,000 after purchasing an additional 7,097,074 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 1,447.6% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,756,955 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $518,460,000 after purchasing an additional 3,514,195 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Energy Transfer in the 3rd quarter valued at $42,932,000. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 31.1% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 12,378,222 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $173,666,000 after buying an additional 2,933,353 shares in the last quarter. 38.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on ET. Mizuho reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $19.00 target price (up from $18.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Energy Transfer from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Energy Transfer has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $18.00.

Energy Transfer Stock Up 0.2 %

NYSE:ET traded up $0.03 on Tuesday, hitting $16.09. 8,456,193 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,160,890. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $15.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $14.42. Energy Transfer LP has a 52 week low of $12.18 and a 52 week high of $16.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The company has a market cap of $54.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.72 and a beta of 1.63.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The pipeline company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $20.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.46 billion. Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 12.17% and a net margin of 4.85%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.34 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.317 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. This is a positive change from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.88%. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is presently 115.60%.

Energy Transfer Company 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.