Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) Stock Price Down 1.5% – Time to Sell?

Shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) dropped 1.5% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $18.24 and last traded at $18.3050. Approximately 14,913,825 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 7% from the average daily volume of 15,963,073 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.59.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on ET. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $22.00 target price (down from $25.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Monday, January 12th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Energy Transfer from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Energy Transfer from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Wednesday, December 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.40.

Energy Transfer Stock Down 1.5%

The company has a market capitalization of $62.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.13, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.22. The business’s 50 day moving average is $17.97 and its 200 day moving average is $17.27.

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

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 19th. Investors of record on Friday, February 6th were issued a dividend of $0.335 per share. This represents a $1.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.3%. This is a boost from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 6th. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is currently 110.74%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Energy Transfer

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ET. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Energy Transfer by 41.6% in the 4th 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. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Energy Transfer in the third quarter valued at about $264,309,000. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 83,843,087 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,382,573,000 after purchasing an additional 6,192,066 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 9.3% during the 2nd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 21,353,476 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $387,139,000 after purchasing an additional 1,825,391 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position 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 worth $992,923,000 after purchasing an additional 1,773,042 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 38.22% of the company’s stock.

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.