Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) Trading Up 1.6% – Still a Buy?

Shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) rose 1.6% on Monday . The company traded as high as $19.73 and last traded at $19.6450. Approximately 10,273,510 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 37% from the average daily volume of 16,434,773 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.34.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ET has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Friday, January 16th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and issued a $23.00 price objective (up from $22.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Energy Transfer from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.00.

Energy Transfer Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $19.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.82. The firm has a market cap of $67.60 billion, a PE ratio of 16.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.57.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.05). Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 9.77% and a net margin of 4.66%.The company had revenue of $27.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.78 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.36 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 32.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.3375 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 8th. This represents a $1.35 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.9%. This is a boost from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is presently 112.50%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ET. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 41.6% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 86,310,272 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,423,256,000 after acquiring an additional 25,366,594 shares during the period. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new stake in Energy Transfer in the 3rd quarter valued at about $264,309,000. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Energy Transfer by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 83,843,087 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,382,573,000 after buying an additional 6,192,066 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Energy Transfer by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 57,862,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $992,923,000 after buying an additional 1,773,042 shares during the period. Finally, Jump Financial LLC raised its holdings in Energy Transfer by 128.0% in the 4th quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 2,585,439 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $42,634,000 after buying an additional 1,451,613 shares during the period. 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.