Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) Trading Up 1.2% After Analyst Upgrade

Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET)’s share price rose 1.2% on Wednesday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $20.00 to $26.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Energy Transfer traded as high as $19.07 and last traded at $19.12. Approximately 2,003,072 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average daily volume of 14,460,194 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.88.

ET has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Energy Transfer from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Energy Transfer from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Energy Transfer from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Energy Transfer from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.09.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Energy Transfer

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 12,090.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 12,455,613 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $244,005,000 after buying an additional 12,353,441 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 44.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 33,379,297 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $535,738,000 after purchasing an additional 10,195,768 shares in the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI bought a new position in Energy Transfer in the fourth quarter worth $79,113,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in Energy Transfer by 36.7% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 11,563,478 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $185,594,000 after purchasing an additional 3,106,631 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new stake in Energy Transfer during the fourth quarter worth $50,166,000. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Energy Transfer Price Performance

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.33. The stock has a market cap of $65.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The pipeline company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.06). Energy Transfer had a net margin of 5.74% and a return on equity of 11.56%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.46 EPS for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $0.325 per share. This is a positive change from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.80%. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 101.56%.

Energy Transfer Company Profile

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.