Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts remain moderately bullish: Energy Transfer has a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating from 15 analysts, with 12 buy ratings, two holds and one strong buy. The average 12-month price target is $24.17, above the reported share price of $21.70.
• Quarterly results exceeded expectations: The company reported earnings of $0.59 per share versus the $0.38 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 78.4% year over year to $34.33 billion.
• Income and insider signals remain notable: Energy Transfer pays a quarterly distribution of $0.34 per share, equivalent to a 6.3% annualized yield, while insiders purchased more than 1 million shares worth approximately $21.5 million over the past 90 days.

Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the fifteen analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $24.1667.

ET has been the subject of several research reports. Weiss Ratings cut Energy Transfer from a "buy (b+)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 18th. Zacks Research cut Energy Transfer from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. TD Cowen restated a "buy" rating and issued a $25.00 price target (up from $24.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th.

Energy Transfer Price Performance

NYSE:ET opened at $21.70 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $20.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.70. Energy Transfer has a 1-year low of $16.18 and a 1-year high of $21.77. The firm has a market cap of $74.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.57.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $34.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $27.71 billion. Energy Transfer had a net margin of 4.87% and a return on equity of 11.55%. The company's revenue was up 78.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.32 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Energy Transfer will post 1.7 EPS for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Investors of record on Friday, August 7th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 7th. This is a positive change from Energy Transfer's previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.3%. Energy Transfer's payout ratio is currently 92.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kelcy Warren acquired 647,968 shares of Energy Transfer stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $21.26 per share, for a total transaction of $13,775,799.68. Following the acquisition, the director owned 147,901,879 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,144,393,947.54. This trade represents a 0.44% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director James Perry acquired 12,359 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $20.23 per share, with a total value of $250,022.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 208,046 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,208,770.58. The trade was a 6.32% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders bought a total of 1,012,359 shares of company stock worth $21,513,543 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.28% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Energy Transfer

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 41.6% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 86,310,272 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,423,256,000 after purchasing an additional 25,366,594 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its position in Energy Transfer by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 83,843,087 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,382,573,000 after buying an additional 6,192,066 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 3.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 57,862,666 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $992,923,000 after acquiring an additional 1,773,042 shares during the last quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. boosted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 38,675,828 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $637,764,000 after acquiring an additional 103,245 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in Energy Transfer by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 30,956,358 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $597,458,000 after purchasing an additional 1,656,609 shares in the last quarter. 38.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Energy Transfer

Energy Transfer LP NYSE: ET is a diversified midstream energy partnership that owns and operates infrastructure used to transport, store, process and market energy commodities. Its assets support the movement of natural gas, crude oil, natural gas liquids (NGLs), refined products and other hydrocarbon-based materials.

The company's operations include natural gas gathering and processing, interstate and intrastate pipeline transportation, NGL fractionation and storage, crude oil and refined products transportation, and terminal services.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.