Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) Shares Up 1.2% on Analyst Upgrade

Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) traded up 1.2% during trading on Friday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $23.00 to $25.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Energy Transfer traded as high as $18.83 and last traded at $18.7750. 16,703,391 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 5% from the average session volume of 15,835,364 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.56.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Energy Transfer from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Wednesday, December 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective (down from $25.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Monday, January 12th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.60.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ET. Basepoint Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Energy Transfer in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Gables Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Energy Transfer by 60.0% during the fourth quarter. Gables Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,600 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Sarver Vrooman Wealth Advisors bought a new position in Energy Transfer in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Financial Life Planners bought a new position in Energy Transfer in the 3rd quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 54.4% in the 2nd quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,270 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Energy Transfer Trading Up 1.2%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.22. The stock has a market cap of $64.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.63. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $18.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $17.29.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The pipeline company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by ($0.09). Energy Transfer had a net margin of 5.11% and a return on equity of 10.17%. The company had revenue of $25.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.29 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 29.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.46 EPS for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 19th. Investors of record on Friday, February 6th were given a $0.335 dividend. This represents a $1.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.1%. This is a boost from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 6th. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 110.74%.

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.