Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) Stock Price Up 0.8% on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) shot up 0.8% on Tuesday after Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on the stock from $20.00 to $23.00. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Energy Transfer traded as high as $19.07 and last traded at $18.99. 3,530,602 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 74% from the average session volume of 13,666,538 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.84.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the company. Bank of America assumed coverage on Energy Transfer in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $20.00 target price for the company. UBS Group boosted their price target on Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, Energy Transfer has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $20.38.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Energy Transfer

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. FFG Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. FFG Partners LLC now owns 1,636,626 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $26,268,000 after acquiring an additional 52,302 shares during the period. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Energy Transfer in the third quarter valued at about $1,207,000. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 6.8% in the third quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 15,675 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $251,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp boosted its position in Energy Transfer by 69.8% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 84,530 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,357,000 after buying an additional 34,749 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in Energy Transfer by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 101,738 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,633,000 after buying an additional 1,248 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 38.22% of the company’s stock.

Energy Transfer Stock Up 1.0 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.44. The company has a market capitalization of $65.12 billion, a PE ratio of 13.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.70.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.32. The company had revenue of $20.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.59 billion. Energy Transfer had a net margin of 5.90% and a return on equity of 12.38%. The firm’s revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.31 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a $0.3225 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.29 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.78%. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is 94.85%.

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.