Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) Given Average Recommendation of "Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Energy Transfer has an average analyst recommendation of “Buy” from 15 covering firms, with a consensus 12-month price target of $23.50.
• Recent analyst actions have been mostly positive, including reiterated strong-buy and outperform ratings, along with several higher price targets from firms such as RBC, Stifel, JPMorgan, and Zacks.
• The company recently reported quarterly earnings of $0.35 per share, missing estimates, while revenue came in above expectations at $27.77 billion; Energy Transfer also raised its quarterly dividend, implying an annualized yield of 6.7%.

Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET - Get Free Report) has been given an average recommendation of "Buy" by the fifteen ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eleven have issued a buy recommendation and three have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $23.50.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Raymond James Financial reiterated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $23.00 target price (up from $21.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Zacks Research upgraded Energy Transfer from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th.

Institutional Trading of Energy Transfer

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ET. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 41.6% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 86,310,272 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,423,256,000 after buying an additional 25,366,594 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Energy Transfer by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 83,843,087 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,382,573,000 after acquiring an additional 6,192,066 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in 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 period. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. grew its position in Energy Transfer by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 38,675,828 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $637,764,000 after acquiring an additional 103,245 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Energy Transfer by 5.7% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 30,956,358 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $597,458,000 after acquiring an additional 1,656,609 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 38.22% of the company's stock.

Energy Transfer Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE ET opened at $20.25 on Wednesday. Energy Transfer has a 12-month low of $16.18 and a 12-month high of $20.70. The stock has a market cap of $69.70 billion, a PE ratio of 16.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The company has a 50-day moving average of $19.53 and a 200 day moving average of $18.91.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $27.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $25.78 billion. Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 9.77% and a net margin of 4.66%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 32.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.36 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Energy Transfer will post 1.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 8th were paid a dividend of $0.3375 per share. This represents a $1.35 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.7%. This is a boost from Energy Transfer's previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 8th. Energy Transfer's payout ratio is presently 112.50%.

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.

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