All but one of the top publicly traded energy pipeline companies in North America saw institutional ownership decrease during the second quarter — even though they recorded better than expected financial results for the period — an S&P Global Market Intelligence analysis of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings shows.

Only Oneok Inc.'s institutional ownership increased during the quarter, with investors acquiring 9.2 million shares, while Energy Transfer LP's institutional ownership experienced the biggest decline as UBS Asset Management Inc., The Blackstone Group Inc.'s Harvest Fund Advisors LLC and Bank of America Corp.'s asset management arm dumped a combined 88.1 million positions in the master limited partnership.

Investors, however, largely welcomed Energy Transfer's 2022 guidance for growth capital expenditures to be between $500 million and $700 million, a range that was sharply lower than in 2020.

The sector's largest institutional buyer in the quarter was T. Rowe Price Group Inc., which added 21.3 million Williams Cos. Inc. units and 19.8 million Enbridge Inc. units to its portfolio. Dodge & Cox became the second-largest buyer by purchasing a new $697.3 million stake in Williams accounting for just over 3% of the pipeline giant's total ownership.

Capital Research and Management Co. unloaded 57.5 million Enbridge shares, 12.3 million Williams units and 3.2 million positions in Oneok, making that firm the biggest seller.

Blackstone and Harvest Fund Advisors were also particularly active during the second quarter, beefing up stakes in five of the top midstream companies combined while shedding positions in four firms.

Hedge fund King Street Capital Management LP, meanwhile, bought a new stake in Cheniere Energy Inc. as Baupost Group LLC and Jackson Square Partners LLC sold off their positions in the liquefied natural gas heavyweight.