Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) Trading Up 0.1% After Analyst Upgrade

Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) rose 0.1% on Tuesday 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 $19.13 and last traded at $18.91. Approximately 2,978,205 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 14,513,480 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.88.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on ET. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Energy Transfer from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Monday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Energy Transfer from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.09.

Institutional Trading of Energy Transfer

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in Energy Transfer by 12,090.8% during 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 44.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 33,379,297 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $535,738,000 after acquiring an additional 10,195,768 shares during the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI acquired a new position in Energy Transfer in the fourth quarter worth $79,113,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 36.7% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 11,563,478 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $185,594,000 after buying an additional 3,106,631 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new position in shares of Energy Transfer in the 4th quarter valued at about $50,166,000. 38.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Energy Transfer Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.12. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $19.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $18.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $64.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.72.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The pipeline company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.35 by ($0.06). Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 11.56% and a net margin of 5.74%. Equities research analysts expect 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 Wednesday, February 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $0.325 per share. This is an increase 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 6.87%. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is 101.56%.

About Energy Transfer

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.