Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) Trading Up 1.2% – Time to Buy?

Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET)’s share price rose 1.2% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $17.61 and last traded at $17.74. Approximately 2,485,155 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 15,473,943 shares. The stock had previously closed at $17.53.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ET has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Energy Transfer from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $23.00 price target on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Energy Transfer from $25.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Energy Transfer presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.64.

Energy Transfer Price Performance

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $17.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.12. The company has a market capitalization of $61.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.02, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.78.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $21.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.28 billion. Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 11.56% and a net margin of 5.74%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th were issued a dividend of $0.3275 per share. This represents a $1.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.30%. This is an increase from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 9th. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio is presently 99.24%.

Institutional Trading of Energy Transfer

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ET. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 93.4% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 24,530 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $481,000 after buying an additional 11,844 shares during the last quarter. Choreo LLC boosted its position in Energy Transfer by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 60,776 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,190,000 after purchasing an additional 6,541 shares during the period. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Energy Transfer by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC now owns 17,887 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $350,000 after purchasing an additional 1,873 shares during the period. Financial Advocates Investment Management boosted its position in Energy Transfer by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 18,235 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $357,000 after purchasing an additional 2,006 shares during the period. Finally, Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp purchased a new stake in Energy Transfer during the 4th quarter worth $673,000. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Energy Transfer Company Profile

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.