Zacks Research Downgrades Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) to Hold

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) was downgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Wall Street Zen raised Energy Transfer from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $23.00 price objective (up from $21.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Energy Transfer from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.92.

Energy Transfer Stock Performance

Shares of ET opened at $20.93 on Tuesday. Energy Transfer has a 12-month low of $16.18 and a 12-month high of $20.96. The stock has a market cap of $72.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.24, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. The company has a 50-day moving average of $19.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $19.28.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 78.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Energy Transfer will post 1.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Energy Transfer

In related news, Director James Richard Perry bought 12,359 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 7th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $20.23 per share, with a total value of $250,022.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 208,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,208,770.58. The trade was a 6.32% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 3.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Energy Transfer

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ET. Arrow Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 4.9% during the second quarter. Arrow Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,866 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $208,000 after buying an additional 505 shares during the period. Argent Trust Co lifted its holdings in Energy Transfer by 2.1% in the second quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 26,035 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $498,000 after buying an additional 529 shares during the period. State of Wyoming lifted its holdings in Energy Transfer by 2.5% in the second quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 22,822 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $436,000 after buying an additional 548 shares during the period. Keybank National Association OH boosted its position in Energy Transfer by 0.3% during the first quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 219,232 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,231,000 after acquiring an additional 556 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mountain Capital Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Energy Transfer by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Mountain Capital Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 12,007 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $216,000 after acquiring an additional 560 shares during the period. 38.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.