Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) Stock Has Consensus Price Target of $24.36

Shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the seventeen brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $24.36.

ET has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen raised Energy Transfer from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Capital One Financial began coverage on Energy Transfer in a report on Tuesday, September 22nd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $26.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on Energy Transfer in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $25.00 target price for the company. Zacks Research lowered Energy Transfer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective 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.

More Energy Transfer News

Here are the key news stories impacting Energy Transfer this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Vaquero acquisition expands midstream footprint: Energy Transfer agreed to acquire Vaquero Midstream for approximately $2.625 billion, including $1.95 billion in cash and about 33.3 million newly issued ET common units. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter and should add assets and volumes to ET’s operations. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sees meaningful upside: A Seeking Alpha analysis resumed coverage with a Buy rating and a $26 price target, citing expected strong volume growth, robust downstream utilization and ET’s roughly 90% fee-based business model. The analysis forecasts mid-single-digit revenue growth and margin expansion in fiscal 2027, supported in part by rising power demand from data centers. Seeking Alpha article
• Positive Sentiment: Income appeal remains a key support: Coverage continues to highlight ET’s high distribution yield, diversified assets and predominantly fee-based cash flows. Those characteristics may attract income-oriented investors, particularly as the company offers exposure to energy infrastructure without taking on as much direct commodity-price risk. 247WallSt article
• Neutral Sentiment: Acquisition economics will be watched: The Vaquero deal could be accretive if acquired volumes and cash flow meet expectations, but ET must deploy $1.95 billion of cash while issuing units to fund part of the purchase. Investors will likely focus on leverage, integration progress and the effect of unit issuance on per-unit cash flow.
• Negative Sentiment: Yield competition is increasing: With the 10-year Treasury yielding 5.31%, ET’s distribution must offer sufficient compensation for the additional business and financing risks of a pipeline partnership. Higher risk-free yields could limit valuation expansion for high-yield stocks, even with attractive distributions.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Trading of Energy Transfer

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ET. Osbon Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Energy Transfer in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Energy Transfer in the first quarter valued at $35,000. Financial Life Planners acquired a new position in Energy Transfer during the 1st quarter worth approximately $40,000. Bullseye Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Energy Transfer during the second quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Pinpoint Asset Management Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in Energy Transfer during the second quarter worth $42,000. Institutional investors own 38.22% of the company’s stock.

Energy Transfer Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of NYSE:ET opened at $20.48 on Monday. Energy Transfer has a one year low of $16.18 and a one year high of $21.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $19.98.

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

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 7th were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 7th. This is a positive change from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.3375. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is presently 92.52%.

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.