Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) Stock Price Up 1.2% Following Analyst Upgrade

Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET)’s stock price traded up 1.2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $20.00 to $26.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Energy Transfer traded as high as $19.07 and last traded at $19.12. 2,003,072 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 14,460,194 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.88.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Energy Transfer from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Energy Transfer from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Energy Transfer from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.09.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Energy Transfer

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 12,090.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 12,455,613 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $244,005,000 after purchasing an additional 12,353,441 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 44.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 33,379,297 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $535,738,000 after buying an additional 10,195,768 shares during the period. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI acquired a new position in shares of Energy Transfer during the fourth quarter valued at about $79,113,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new stake in Energy Transfer in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,166,000. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 18.2% during the fourth quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 16,331,220 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $319,929,000 after purchasing an additional 2,512,060 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.22% of the company’s stock.

Energy Transfer Trading Down 0.1 %

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 business has a fifty day moving average of $19.49 and a 200-day moving average of $18.34. The company has a market capitalization of $64.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.77, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.72.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The pipeline company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.35 by ($0.06). Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 11.56% and a net margin of 5.74%. Analysts anticipate that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 19th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were given a dividend of $0.325 per share. This is a boost from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.88%. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is presently 101.56%.

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.