Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) Stock Price Up 2.1% – Time to Buy?

Shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) traded up 2.1% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $19.31 and last traded at $19.29. 9,245,105 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 38% from the average daily volume of 14,821,624 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.89.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $23.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $23.00 price target (up from $22.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Friday, June 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Energy Transfer from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $23.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.45.

Energy Transfer Stock Up 1.0%

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $19.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $18.48. The company has a market cap of $65.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last released 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 net margin of 4.66% and a return on equity of 9.77%. The business had revenue of $27.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.36 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 32.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.43 EPS for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 8th were given a dividend of $0.3375 per share. This is an increase from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.35 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 8th. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 112.50%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in 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 last quarter. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new position in shares of Energy Transfer during the third quarter valued at $264,309,000. Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 83,843,087 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,382,573,000 after purchasing an additional 6,192,066 shares during the period. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC acquired a new position in shares of Energy Transfer during the first quarter worth $61,760,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 3.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 57,862,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $992,923,000 after purchasing an additional 1,773,042 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 38.22% of the company’s stock.

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.