Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) Trading 2.4% Higher Following Analyst Upgrade

Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET)’s share price traded up 2.4% 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 mid-day trading, a decline of 36% from the average session volume of 15,838,710 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.30.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Wednesday, December 24th. TD Cowen lifted their price target 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. Barclays reissued 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. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Energy Transfer has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.40.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,880,623 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $31,021,000 after purchasing an additional 33,344 shares in the last quarter. Flax Pond Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Energy Transfer during the 4th quarter worth $445,000. Redwood Family Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Energy Transfer during the 4th quarter worth $238,000. Gunpowder Capital Management LLC dba Oliver Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Energy Transfer during the 4th quarter worth $56,000. Finally, Oak Grove Capital LLC boosted its stake in Energy Transfer by 89.2% in the fourth quarter. Oak Grove Capital LLC now owns 422,500 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $6,967,000 after buying an additional 199,200 shares in the last quarter. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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 firm has a 50 day moving average of $18.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $17.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $64.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.63.

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

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

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

About Energy Transfer

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.