Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) Upgraded at Jefferies Financial Group

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday. The brokerage currently has a $23.00 price target on the pipeline company’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 16.75% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on ET. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $23.00 price target (up from $22.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.27.

Energy Transfer Stock Down 1.8%

Energy Transfer stock traded down $0.37 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $19.70. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,367,476 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,865,139. The company has a market capitalization of $67.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.57. Energy Transfer has a 12 month low of $16.18 and a 12 month high of $20.70. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.17.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $27.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.78 billion. Energy Transfer had a net margin of 4.66% and a return on equity of 9.77%. The business’s revenue was up 32.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.36 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Energy Transfer will post 1.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Energy Transfer

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 41.6% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 86,310,272 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,423,256,000 after buying an additional 25,366,594 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Energy Transfer by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 83,843,087 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,382,573,000 after purchasing an additional 6,192,066 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Energy Transfer by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 57,862,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $992,923,000 after purchasing an additional 1,773,042 shares in the last quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. raised its stake in Energy Transfer by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 38,675,828 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $637,764,000 after purchasing an additional 103,245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in Energy Transfer by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 30,956,358 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $597,458,000 after purchasing an additional 1,656,609 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.22% of the company’s stock.

About Energy Transfer

Energy Transfer (NYSE: ET) is a Dallas-based midstream energy company that develops and operates infrastructure for the transportation, storage and processing of hydrocarbons. The company’s operations focus on moving and storing natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), crude oil and refined products through an integrated network of pipelines, terminals, storage facilities and processing plants. Energy Transfer provides core midstream services such as gathering, compression, fractionation, processing, and bulk transportation to support production and downstream supply chains.

Its asset base spans an extensive network across the United States, connecting producing regions, processing centers, petrochemical hubs and coastal and inland markets.