Energy Transfer Sees Unusually High Options Volume (TXSE:ET)

Energy Transfer LP (TXSE:ET) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Traders purchased 118,838 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 277% compared to the typical daily volume of 31,557 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on ET shares. Capital One Financial initiated coverage on Energy Transfer in a report on Tuesday, September 22nd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $26.00 price target for the company. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 target price (up from $24.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Thursday, September 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $25.00 target price on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Energy Transfer from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $23.00 price target (up from $21.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $24.73.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Energy Transfer news, Director Kelcy L. Warren purchased 647,968 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $21.26 per share, with a total value of $13,775,799.68. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 147,901,879 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,144,393,947.54. This represents a 0.44% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director James Perry bought 12,359 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 7th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $20.23 per share, with a total value of $250,022.57. Following the transaction, the director directly 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 SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders acquired a total of 1,012,359 shares of company stock worth $21,513,543 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 3.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ET. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in 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 valued at $597,458,000 after acquiring an additional 1,656,609 shares during the last quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 25,654,536 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $490,515,000 after purchasing an additional 447,081 shares during the last quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY increased its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 5,679,174 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $112,277,000 after purchasing an additional 364,190 shares during the last quarter. Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,562,381 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $107,354,000 after purchasing an additional 211,026 shares during the period. Finally, BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,017,925 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $76,823,000 after purchasing an additional 16,926 shares during the period. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Energy Transfer News

Here are the key news stories impacting Energy Transfer this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Management raised its 2026 adjusted EBITDA outlook to $19.7 billion–$19.9 billion after strong operating results. Third-quarter distributable cash flow rose 33% year over year, and record gas volumes helped drive growth. ET Q3 Earnings Call Puts Gas Demand and Capital Spending in Focus
• Positive Sentiment: Jefferies raised its price target on ET to $25, offering a supportive analyst signal. Energy Transfer PT Raised to $25 at Jefferies
• Positive Sentiment: Energy Transfer approved a $1.6 billion South Mississippi natural-gas pipeline, designed to carry 1.2 billion cubic feet per day. The investment positions the partnership to serve growing regional and export-related gas demand. Energy Transfer sanctions $1.6bn South Mississippi pipeline project
• Positive Sentiment: The partnership raised its quarterly distribution to $0.3425 per unit. Strong distributable cash flow provides substantial coverage for the payout. Energy Transfer: Massive Growth And Another Dividend Hike
• Neutral Sentiment: ET plans about $7 billion in growth capital spending in 2027. The projects could support future earnings, but require significant investment and execution. ET Q3 Earnings Call Puts Gas Demand and Capital Spending in Focus
• Negative Sentiment: Third-quarter earnings were $0.33 per unit, below the $0.40 analyst consensus. The miss may overshadow strong revenue and cash-flow results in the near term. Energy Transfer Q3 Earnings Miss Estimates Despite Record Gas Volumes

Energy Transfer Stock Down 3.1%

ET traded down $0.63 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $19.53. 10,840,064 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,084,118. The stock has a market cap of $67.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.32, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.62. Energy Transfer has a 1-year low of $16.18 and a 1-year high of $21.84. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $20.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45.

Energy Transfer (TXSE:ET) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.07). Energy Transfer had a net margin of 4.87% and a return on equity of 11.55%. The business had revenue of $37.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.98 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.28 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Energy Transfer will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 19th. Investors of record on Friday, November 6th will be given a $0.3425 dividend. This is an increase from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 6th. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.13%.

Energy Transfer Company Profile

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.