Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) Stock Price Up 1.6% – Time to Buy?

Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET)’s stock price traded up 1.6% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $16.57 and last traded at $16.5120. 17,307,512 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 10% from the average session volume of 15,720,444 shares. The stock had previously closed at $16.25.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ET has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Wednesday, December 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised Energy Transfer to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Wednesday. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.75.

Energy Transfer Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The firm has a market cap of $56.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.66. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $16.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $17.11.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $19.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.84 billion. Energy Transfer had a net margin of 5.66% and a return on equity of 10.71%. Energy Transfer’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.32 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 7th were paid a dividend of $0.3325 per share. This is a boost from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 7th. This represents a $1.33 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.1%. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 106.40%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Energy Transfer news, Director Kelcy L. Warren bought 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 19th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $16.95 per share, with a total value of $16,950,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 104,577,803 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,772,593,760.85. The trade was a 0.97% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 3.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Energy Transfer

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ET. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 93.4% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 24,530 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $481,000 after buying an additional 11,844 shares during the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Energy Transfer by 42.1% during the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 32,074 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $596,000 after acquiring an additional 9,500 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Energy Transfer by 62.8% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 21,041 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $391,000 after acquiring an additional 8,118 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC grew its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 2.6% in the first quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 143,889 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,675,000 after purchasing an additional 3,711 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 1.1% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 405,820 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $7,544,000 after purchasing an additional 4,329 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 38.22% of the company’s stock.

Energy Transfer Company Profile

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.