Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $18.00.

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Energy Transfer from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Mizuho reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $19.00 price target (up previously from $18.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target 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.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Energy Transfer

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ET. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 4.6% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 79,889 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $894,000 after acquiring an additional 3,501 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. increased its holdings in Energy Transfer by 0.6% in the first quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 424,932 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,755,000 after purchasing an additional 2,403 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL increased its holdings in Energy Transfer by 13.7% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 260,824 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,919,000 after purchasing an additional 31,407 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 7.3% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 159,249 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,782,000 after acquiring an additional 10,856 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 43.0% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 192,394 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,153,000 after acquiring an additional 57,880 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 38.22% of the company’s stock.

Energy Transfer Stock Performance

NYSE ET traded up $0.40 during trading on Thursday, hitting $15.63. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,375,301 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,407,778. Energy Transfer has a 52 week low of $12.18 and a 52 week high of $16.04. The firm has a market cap of $52.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.35 and a beta of 1.64. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $15.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $14.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The pipeline company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.08. Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 12.17% and a net margin of 4.85%. The company had revenue of $20.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.34 EPS. Energy Transfer’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Energy Transfer will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 7th were given a dividend of $0.315 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 6th. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.06%. This is an increase from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is presently 115.60%.

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.