Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) Trading 1.6% Higher – Time to Buy?

Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) traded up 1.6% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $19.22 and last traded at $19.0610. 8,261,105 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 45% from the average session volume of 15,111,924 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.76.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $23.00 target price (up from $22.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Energy Transfer from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Two equities 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, Energy Transfer presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.45.

Energy Transfer Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The company has a market capitalization of $65.59 billion, a PE ratio of 15.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.55. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $19.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.33.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.05). Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 9.77% and a net margin of 4.66%.The firm had revenue of $27.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.78 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.36 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 32.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.43 EPS for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 8th were given a dividend of $0.3375 per share. This represents a $1.35 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.1%. This is a boost from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 8th. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio is 112.50%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Energy Transfer

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. North Star Investment Management Corp. increased its holdings in Energy Transfer by 100.1% in the fourth quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 161,523 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,664,000 after buying an additional 80,786 shares in the last quarter. Texas Yale Capital Corp. increased its holdings in Energy Transfer by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Texas Yale Capital Corp. now owns 1,311,965 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $21,634,000 after buying an additional 75,700 shares in the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Energy Transfer by 436.6% in the fourth quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 90,160 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,487,000 after buying an additional 73,359 shares in the last quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp increased its holdings in Energy Transfer by 277.6% in the third quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 219,083 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,759,000 after buying an additional 161,067 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in Energy Transfer by 2.6% in the third quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 21,898,420 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $375,777,000 after buying an additional 544,944 shares in the last quarter. 38.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.