Insider Buying: Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) Director Purchases $250,022.57 in Stock

Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) Director James Richard Perry purchased 12,359 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 7th. The stock was bought at an average price of $20.23 per share, for a total transaction of $250,022.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 208,046 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,208,770.58. The trade was a 6.32% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Energy Transfer Stock Performance

NYSE:ET opened at $20.93 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $19.71 and its 200-day moving average is $19.28. The company has a market cap of $72.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.24, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.16. Energy Transfer LP has a 52-week low of $16.18 and a 52-week high of $20.96.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.21. Energy Transfer had a net margin of 4.87% and a return on equity of 11.55%. The business had revenue of $34.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.32 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 78.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 7th. This is a boost from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is 92.52%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Energy Transfer

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ET. Texas Yale Capital Corp. grew its position in Energy Transfer by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Texas Yale Capital Corp. now owns 1,311,965 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $21,634,000 after acquiring an additional 75,700 shares during the last quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. raised its position in Energy Transfer by 100.1% in the 4th quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 161,523 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,664,000 after purchasing an additional 80,786 shares during the last quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC boosted its stake in Energy Transfer by 179.0% in the first quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC now owns 162,100 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,129,000 after purchasing an additional 104,000 shares in the last quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,560,110 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $25,726,000 after purchasing an additional 129,489 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Markets Americas LLC bought a new stake in shares of Energy Transfer during the first quarter worth $61,760,000. 38.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on ET shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Energy Transfer from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Energy Transfer from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $23.00 target price (up from $21.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.92.

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.