Energy Transfer (NYSEAMERICAN:ET) Stock Price Crosses Above Fifty Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Energy Transfer LP (NYSEAMERICAN:ET) shares passed above its 50 day moving average during trading on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $20.77 and traded as high as $21.02. Energy Transfer shares last traded at $20.88, with a volume of 9,308,975 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on ET shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 18th. Melius Research initiated coverage on Energy Transfer in a report on Tuesday, September 22nd. They set a “hold” rating and a $25.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $23.00 price objective (up from $21.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Zacks Research lowered Energy Transfer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Energy Transfer currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $24.60.

Energy Transfer Stock Up 0.1%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.00 billion, a PE ratio of 14.22, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $20.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.65.

Energy Transfer (NYSEAMERICAN:ET) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.21. Energy Transfer had a net margin of 4.87% and a return on equity of 11.55%. The company had revenue of $34.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $27.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.32 earnings per share. Energy Transfer’s revenue was up 78.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 6th will be given a dividend of $0.3425 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 6th. This represents a $1.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.6%. This is a positive change from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio is currently 92.52%.

Insider Transactions at Energy Transfer

In related news, Director James Perry purchased 12,359 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 7th. The stock was bought at an average price of $20.23 per share, for a total transaction of $250,022.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 208,046 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,208,770.58. The trade was a 6.32% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kelcy Warren acquired 647,968 shares of Energy Transfer stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $21.26 per share, for a total transaction of $13,775,799.68. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 147,901,879 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,144,393,947.54. The trade was a 0.44% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders purchased 1,012,359 shares of company stock valued at $21,513,543. 3.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Energy Transfer

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in 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 valued at $597,458,000 after purchasing an additional 1,656,609 shares during the last quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 1.8% in the second quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 25,654,536 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $490,515,000 after buying an additional 447,081 shares during the last quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY boosted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 6.9% in the third quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 5,679,174 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $112,277,000 after buying an additional 364,190 shares during the last quarter. Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Energy Transfer by 3.9% during the first quarter. Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,562,381 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $107,354,000 after acquiring an additional 211,026 shares during the period. Finally, BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in Energy Transfer by 0.4% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,017,925 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $76,823,000 after acquiring an additional 16,926 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 38.22% of the company’s stock.

Energy Transfer Company Profile

Energy Transfer LP is a diversified energy infrastructure company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The partnership owns and operates a broad network of pipelines, processing facilities, storage assets and terminals that support the movement of natural gas, natural gas liquids, crude oil and refined products across the United States.

The company’s operations include gathering and processing natural gas, transporting and storing natural gas and NGLs, fractionating NGLs into component products, and transporting crude oil and refined products.