Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) Stock Price 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 changed 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.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on ET. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Energy Transfer from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays upped their price objective on Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Energy Transfer from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.09.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Energy Transfer

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 12,090.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 12,455,613 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $244,005,000 after purchasing an additional 12,353,441 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Energy Transfer by 44.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 33,379,297 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $535,738,000 after buying an additional 10,195,768 shares in the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI purchased a new position in Energy Transfer in the fourth quarter valued at about $79,113,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 36.7% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 11,563,478 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $185,594,000 after acquiring an additional 3,106,631 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new stake in shares of Energy Transfer during the 4th quarter worth approximately $50,166,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.22% of the company’s stock.

Energy Transfer Trading Down 0.1 %

The business has a fifty day moving average of $19.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.31. The firm has a market cap of $64.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.76, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.12.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The pipeline company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.06). Energy Transfer had a net margin of 5.74% and a return on equity of 11.56%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a dividend of $0.325 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.89%. This is a boost from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is presently 101.56%.

Energy Transfer Company Profile

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.