Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) Trading 1% Higher on Insider Buying Activity

Key Points

• Insider buying lifted Energy Transfer shares about 1%. Director James Richard Perry purchased 12,359 shares for roughly $250,000, increasing his ownership by 6.32%.
• Analysts remain bullish, with the stock carrying a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $23.75, above its recent trading level near $20.81.
• Energy Transfer reported quarterly EPS of $0.59, exceeding estimates of $0.38, while revenue rose 78.4% year over year to $34.33 billion. The company pays a quarterly dividend of $0.34 per share, representing an annualized yield of about 6.5%.

Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET - Get Free Report)'s stock price traded up 1% during trading on Tuesday following insider buying activity. The company traded as high as $20.88 and last traded at $20.8050. Approximately 8,344,573 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 38% from the average session volume of 13,530,354 shares. The stock had previously closed at $20.59.

Specifically, Director James Richard Perry bought 12,359 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $20.23 per share, with a total value of $250,022.57. Following the purchase, the director owned 208,046 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,208,770.58. This represents a 6.32% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $23.00 price target (up from $21.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Friday, June 5th. TD Cowen restated a "buy" rating and set a $25.00 target price (up from $24.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Energy Transfer presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $23.75.

Energy Transfer Stock Up 1.0%

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 stock has a market cap of $71.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.55. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.24.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $34.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.71 billion. Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 11.55% and a net margin of 4.87%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 78.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.32 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.52 EPS for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Investors of record on Friday, August 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 7th. This is a positive change from Energy Transfer's previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Energy Transfer's payout ratio is 92.52%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Arrow Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 4.9% during the second quarter. Arrow Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,866 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $208,000 after purchasing an additional 505 shares in the last quarter. Argent Trust Co increased its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 26,035 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $498,000 after buying an additional 529 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming raised its stake in Energy Transfer by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 22,822 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $436,000 after buying an additional 548 shares during the period. Keybank National Association OH raised its stake in Energy Transfer by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 219,232 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $4,231,000 after buying an additional 556 shares during the period. Finally, Mountain Capital Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Energy Transfer by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Mountain Capital Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 12,007 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $216,000 after acquiring an additional 560 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.22% of the company's stock.

Energy Transfer Company Profile

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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