Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) Reaches New 52-Week High Following Analyst Upgrade

Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Weiss Ratings upgraded the stock from a buy (b) rating to a buy (b+) rating. The company traded as high as $20.88 and last traded at $20.8050, with a volume of 8346087 shares. The stock had previously closed at $20.59.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $24.00 price objective (up from $23.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Energy Transfer from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Energy Transfer has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.92.

Insider Transactions at Energy Transfer

In other Energy Transfer news, Director James Richard Perry bought 12,359 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 7th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $20.23 per share, for a total transaction of $250,022.57. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 208,046 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,208,770.58. This represents a 6.32% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.28% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Energy Transfer

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Visionary Wealth Advisors raised its position in Energy Transfer by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Visionary Wealth Advisors now owns 171,704 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,283,000 after purchasing an additional 4,354 shares during the last quarter. Whalen Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Energy Transfer in the second quarter valued at about $530,000. Cibc World Market Inc. raised its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 0.4% during the second quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 356,235 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $6,811,000 after acquiring an additional 1,510 shares during the last quarter. Osbon Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Energy Transfer during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Finally, Capital Square LLC lifted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 23.9% in the second quarter. Capital Square LLC now owns 51,369 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,010,000 after acquiring an additional 9,901 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 38.22% of the company’s stock.

Energy Transfer Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $19.73 and a 200 day moving average of $19.30. The company has a market capitalization of $71.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.21. Energy Transfer had a net margin of 4.87% and a return on equity of 11.55%. The business had revenue of $34.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $27.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 78.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.57 EPS for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Investors of record on Friday, August 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This is a boost from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 7th. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is 92.52%.

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.