Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) Stock Price Up 0.5% After Analyst Upgrade

Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET)’s share price shot up 0.5% on Thursday after Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on the stock from $18.00 to $19.00. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the stock. Energy Transfer traded as high as $16.40 and last traded at $16.33. 7,240,927 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 40% from the average session volume of 12,165,323 shares. The stock had previously closed at $16.25.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on ET. Mizuho reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $19.00 price objective (up from $18.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Energy Transfer from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.14.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Energy Transfer

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mutual Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 112.9% during the fourth quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 146,943 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,028,000 after acquiring an additional 77,938 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 19.7% in the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 26,335 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $363,000 after acquiring an additional 4,340 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Energy Transfer by 230.9% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 736,634 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $10,335,000 after purchasing an additional 513,989 shares during the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors boosted its holdings in Energy Transfer by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 28,250 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $390,000 after purchasing an additional 903 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fractal Investments LLC grew its stake in Energy Transfer by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fractal Investments LLC now owns 5,682,061 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $79,719,000 after purchasing an additional 647,885 shares in the last quarter. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Energy Transfer Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $54.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.89 and a beta of 1.63. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $15.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $14.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The pipeline company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.04). Energy Transfer had a net margin of 4.85% and a return on equity of 12.17%. The firm had revenue of $21.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.91 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.317 per share. This represents a $1.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.81%. This is a boost from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 10th. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 116.51%.

About Energy Transfer

Energy Transfer LP provides energy-related services. The company owns and operates natural gas transportation pipeline, and natural gas storage facilities in Texas and Oklahoma; and approximately 20,090 miles of interstate natural gas pipeline. It also sells natural gas to electric utilities, independent power plants, local distribution and other marketing companies, and industrial end-users.