Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) Trading Up 1.7% – What’s Next?

Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) traded up 1.7% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $21.50 and last traded at $21.38. Approximately 7,580,292 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 43% from the average session volume of 13,196,908 shares. The stock had previously closed at $21.02.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on ET shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 18th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective (up from $24.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Monday, August 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Energy Transfer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Energy Transfer has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $24.08.

Energy Transfer Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $73.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $34.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $27.71 billion. Energy Transfer had a net margin of 4.87% and a return on equity of 11.55%. The business’s revenue was up 78.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.32 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 7th were paid a $0.34 dividend. This is an increase from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 7th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.4%. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is presently 92.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kelcy L. Warren purchased 647,968 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $21.26 per share, with a total value of $13,775,799.68. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 147,901,879 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,144,393,947.54. This represents a 0.44% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director James Richard Perry bought 12,359 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $20.23 per share, with a total value of $250,022.57. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 208,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,208,770.58. This trade represents a 6.32% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders have purchased a total of 1,012,359 shares of company stock valued at $21,513,543 over the last quarter. 3.28% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Energy Transfer

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Energy Transfer by 41.6% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 86,310,272 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,423,256,000 after purchasing an additional 25,366,594 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Energy Transfer by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 83,843,087 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,382,573,000 after buying an additional 6,192,066 shares during the period. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC purchased a new position in Energy Transfer during the first quarter valued at $61,760,000. SCS Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 1,859.8% during the 2nd quarter. SCS Capital Management LLC now owns 1,942,908 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $37,148,000 after buying an additional 1,843,771 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 57,862,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $992,923,000 after buying an additional 1,773,042 shares in the last quarter. 38.22% of the stock is currently 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.