Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) Trading Up 2.4% on Analyst Upgrade

Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) shares shot up 2.4% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $19.00 to $21.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Energy Transfer traded as high as $18.77 and last traded at $18.7450. 10,093,240 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 36% from the average session volume of 15,838,710 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.30.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on ET. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $22.00 price target (down from $25.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Monday, January 12th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of Energy Transfer to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.40.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ET. Basepoint Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Energy Transfer during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Gables Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Energy Transfer by 60.0% in the fourth quarter. Gables Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,600 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the period. Sarver Vrooman Wealth Advisors bought a new position in shares of Energy Transfer during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Financial Life Planners bought a new position in shares of Energy Transfer during the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Navalign LLC purchased a new position in shares of Energy Transfer during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Energy Transfer Stock Up 2.4%

The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $18.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $17.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $64.49 billion, a PE ratio of 15.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.63.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The pipeline company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.34 by ($0.09). Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 10.17% and a net margin of 5.11%.The company had revenue of $25.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.29 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 29.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 6th were paid a $0.335 dividend. This is an increase from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. This represents a $1.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 6th. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is currently 110.74%.

Energy Transfer Company Profile

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.