Zacks Research Upgrades Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) to Strong-Buy

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) was upgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

ET has been the subject of several other research reports. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and set a $23.00 target price (up from $22.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $23.00 target price (up from $22.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Three 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Energy Transfer has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $23.45.

Energy Transfer Price Performance

Shares of ET opened at $20.07 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.17. The firm has a market cap of $69.08 billion, a PE ratio of 16.73, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.55. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $19.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $18.78. Energy Transfer has a twelve month low of $16.18 and a twelve month high of $20.70.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last posted its 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 return on equity of 9.77% and a net margin of 4.66%.The business had revenue of $27.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.36 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 32.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Energy Transfer will post 1.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Energy Transfer

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Morgan Stanley increased its position in Energy Transfer by 41.6% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 86,310,272 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,423,256,000 after acquiring an additional 25,366,594 shares during the period. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new position in Energy Transfer during the 3rd quarter valued at $264,309,000. Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings 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 valued at $1,382,573,000 after purchasing an additional 6,192,066 shares during the period. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC bought a new stake in Energy Transfer in the 1st quarter valued at $61,760,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew 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 worth $992,923,000 after purchasing an additional 1,773,042 shares during the last quarter. 38.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.