Investors Purchase High Volume of Energy Transfer Call Options (NYSE:ET)

Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) was the target of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Investors bought 65,089 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 64% compared to the average volume of 39,670 call options.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kelcy L. Warren bought 3,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $15.68 per share, with a total value of $47,040,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 123,385,650 shares in the company, valued at $1,934,686,992. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Kelcy L. Warren acquired 3,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $15.68 per share, with a total value of $47,040,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 123,385,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,934,686,992. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Thomas E. Long acquired 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $15.68 per share, for a total transaction of $313,600.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,308,859 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,562,909.12. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired a total of 3,040,000 shares of company stock valued at $47,667,200 in the last quarter. Insiders own 3.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Energy Transfer

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ET. Chase Investment Counsel Corp raised its position in Energy Transfer by 61.2% in the 3rd quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 82,285 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,320,000 after purchasing an additional 31,246 shares during the last quarter. Haverford Trust Co increased its stake in Energy Transfer by 0.7% in the third quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 102,176 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,640,000 after purchasing an additional 675 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 1.7% in the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,118,458 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $17,951,000 after buying an additional 18,640 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP boosted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 59.5% during the third quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 89,357 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,434,000 after buying an additional 33,342 shares during the period. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 0.9% during the third quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 119,523 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,918,000 after buying an additional 1,066 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.22% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ET has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Energy Transfer from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $20.00 target price on the stock. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $20.00.

Energy Transfer Price Performance

ET stock opened at $16.89 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $16.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38. The stock has a market cap of $57.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.19, a PEG ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.66. Energy Transfer has a fifty-two week low of $13.01 and a fifty-two week high of $16.91.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The pipeline company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.01). Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 12.74% and a net margin of 5.19%. The company had revenue of $20.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.01 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.25 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Energy Transfer will post 1.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.3225 per share. This represents a $1.29 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is 107.56%.

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.