Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) Trading Down 1.3% – What’s Next?

Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET)’s share price traded down 1.3% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $18.76 and last traded at $18.8020. 9,577,555 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 37% from the average session volume of 15,172,080 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.04.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $23.00 price objective (up from $22.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Energy Transfer from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $23.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Truist Financial assumed coverage on Energy Transfer in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $23.00 price objective on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $23.45.

Energy Transfer Trading Up 1.6%

The stock has a market cap of $65.59 billion, a PE ratio of 15.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.55. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $27.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.78 billion. Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 9.77% and a net margin of 4.66%.The company’s revenue was up 32.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.36 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 8th were given a dividend of $0.3375 per share. This is an increase from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.35 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 8th. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 112.50%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Energy Transfer

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 41.6% in the fourth 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. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 8.0% in 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 during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 3.2% in the third 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 period. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. increased its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 38,675,828 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $637,764,000 after purchasing an additional 103,245 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 5.7% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 30,956,358 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $597,458,000 after purchasing an additional 1,656,609 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 38.22% of the company’s stock.

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.