Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $19.29.

Several research firms recently commented on ET. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Energy Transfer from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Energy Transfer from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Energy Transfer from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Energy Transfer from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 10th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Energy Transfer

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cullen Investment Group LTD. boosted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 1.8% in the second quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. now owns 62,800 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,019,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the period. Granite Group Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 5.3% in the first quarter. Granite Group Advisors LLC now owns 16,223 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $255,000 after purchasing an additional 823 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Energy Transfer in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,039,000. Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 75.6% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 493,991 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $7,770,000 after purchasing an additional 212,719 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 491.3% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 1,290,364 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $20,297,000 after purchasing an additional 1,072,144 shares during the period. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Energy Transfer Price Performance

Energy Transfer stock opened at $16.37 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $55.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.00. Energy Transfer has a 1 year low of $12.46 and a 1 year high of $16.40. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $15.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $15.02.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The pipeline company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.04). Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 12.22% and a net margin of 4.85%. The business had revenue of $21.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.91 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.32 EPS. Energy Transfer’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Energy Transfer will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th were given a dividend of $0.317 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. This is a boost from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.75%. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.