Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) Trading 2.7% Higher on Analyst Upgrade

Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET)’s stock price shot up 2.7% during mid-day trading on Monday after Zacks Research upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating. The stock traded as high as $20.21 and last traded at $20.1920. Approximately 9,974,820 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 29% from the average session volume of 14,130,306 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.66.

Several other analysts have also commented on ET. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $23.00 target price (up from $22.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $23.00 price target for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Energy Transfer from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.45.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Energy Transfer

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ET. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in 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 in the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Energy Transfer by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 83,843,087 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,382,573,000 after acquiring an additional 6,192,066 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Energy Transfer by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 57,862,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $992,923,000 after acquiring an additional 1,773,042 shares in the last quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. increased its position 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 valued at $637,764,000 after acquiring an additional 103,245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 5.7% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 30,956,358 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $597,458,000 after acquiring an additional 1,656,609 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.22% of the company’s stock.

Energy Transfer Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.78. The company has a market capitalization of $69.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.05). Energy Transfer had a net margin of 4.66% and a return on equity of 9.77%. The company had revenue of $27.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.78 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.36 earnings per share. Energy Transfer’s revenue for the quarter was up 32.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 8th were given a $0.3375 dividend. This represents a $1.35 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 8th. This is a positive change from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio is 112.50%.

Energy Transfer Company Profile

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.