Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) Shares Up 1.7% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) were up 1.7% during trading on Thursday. The company traded as high as $20.13 and last traded at $20.1040. 12,519,254 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 0% from the average session volume of 12,553,077 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.77.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on ET. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Energy Transfer from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Capital One Financial initiated coverage on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Tuesday, September 22nd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $26.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Energy Transfer from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 8th. Citigroup reaffirmed 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. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $24.36.

Energy Transfer Price Performance

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market cap of $70.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.92, a P/E/G ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 0.60.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $34.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.71 billion. Energy Transfer had a net margin of 4.87% and a return on equity of 11.55%. The firm’s revenue was up 78.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 7th were paid a $0.34 dividend. This is a positive change from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.3375. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 7th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.6%. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio is presently 92.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kelcy L. Warren purchased 647,968 shares of Energy Transfer stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $21.26 per share, for a total transaction of $13,775,799.68. Following the transaction, the director owned 147,901,879 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,144,393,947.54. The trade was a 0.44% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director James Perry purchased 12,359 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $20.23 per share, for a total transaction of $250,022.57. Following the purchase, the director owned 208,046 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,208,770.58. The trade was a 6.32% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have bought 1,012,359 shares of company stock valued at $21,513,543. Corporate insiders own 3.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Energy Transfer

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Osbon Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Energy Transfer in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Energy Transfer in the first quarter worth $35,000. Financial Life Planners purchased a new stake in Energy Transfer during the first quarter valued at about $40,000. Bullseye Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Energy Transfer during the second quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Pinpoint Asset Management Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Energy Transfer in the 2nd quarter worth about $42,000. Institutional investors own 38.22% of the company’s stock.

About Energy Transfer

Energy Transfer LP is a diversified energy infrastructure company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The partnership owns and operates a broad network of pipelines, processing facilities, storage assets and terminals that support the movement of natural gas, natural gas liquids, crude oil and refined products across the United States.

The company’s operations include gathering and processing natural gas, transporting and storing natural gas and NGLs, fractionating NGLs into component products, and transporting crude oil and refined products.