Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $21.2727.

ET has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Wednesday, December 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Friday, January 16th.

Institutional Trading of Energy Transfer

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ET. Brighton Jones LLC increased 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 valued at $481,000 after buying an additional 11,844 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Energy Transfer by 62.8% in 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 last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Energy Transfer by 28.7% during the 2nd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 30,239 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $548,000 after purchasing an additional 6,752 shares during the last quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel acquired a new position in shares of Energy Transfer in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $466,000. Finally, CNB Bank boosted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 111.1% in the 2nd quarter. CNB Bank now owns 1,900 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Energy Transfer Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ET opened at $18.96 on Friday. Energy Transfer has a 1 year low of $14.60 and a 1 year high of $19.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $65.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.66. 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 company’s 50 day simple moving average is $17.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.17.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last issued 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 10.38%. The business had revenue of $25.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.29 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 29.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Energy Transfer will post 1.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

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

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.