Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) Trading Down 1.7% – Time to Sell?

Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET)’s stock price traded down 1.7% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $16.48 and last traded at $16.6250. 20,465,174 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 37% from the average session volume of 14,958,206 shares. The stock had previously closed at $16.92.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $21.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $17.00 target price on Energy Transfer and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Energy Transfer presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.08.

Energy Transfer Stock Performance

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $16.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $17.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.76.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by ($0.06). Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 11.08% and a net margin of 5.80%.The business had revenue of $19.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.84 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.32 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 7th were paid a dividend of $0.3325 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 7th. This is a positive change from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. This represents a $1.33 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.0%. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is presently 106.40%.

Institutional Trading of Energy Transfer

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Chelsea Counsel Co. increased its holdings in Energy Transfer by 370.3% in the 2nd quarter. Chelsea Counsel Co. now owns 94,050 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,705,000 after acquiring an additional 74,050 shares in the last quarter. Ariston Services Group raised its stake in Energy Transfer by 126.7% in the 2nd quarter. Ariston Services Group now owns 100,683 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,825,000 after purchasing an additional 56,274 shares during the last quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Energy Transfer in the 2nd quarter valued at $930,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 223.5% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,069,534 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $19,883,000 after buying an additional 738,885 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth raised its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 11.9% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 275,698 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $5,125,000 after buying an additional 29,404 shares during the last quarter. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.