Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Energy Transfer to “buy” from “hold.” The broader analyst consensus is also “Buy,” with a consensus price target of $23.67 versus the stock’s recent $20.14 price.
• Energy Transfer reported a quarterly earnings beat, delivering $0.59 in EPS versus the $0.38 estimate, while revenue rose 78.4% year over year to $34.33 billion.
• The partnership offers an approximately 6.6% distribution yield and recently increased its quarterly payout to $0.34 per unit, though weaker natural-gas prices remain a potential risk.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET - Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Energy Transfer from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $24.00 target price (up from $23.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $24.00 price target (up from $23.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $23.67.

Energy Transfer Stock Down 2.6%

Shares of ET opened at $20.14 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $69.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.70, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.55. Energy Transfer has a 12 month low of $16.18 and a 12 month high of $20.81. The stock's 50 day moving average is $19.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.21. Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 11.71% and a net margin of 4.87%.The business had revenue of $34.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $27.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.32 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 78.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Energy Transfer will post 1.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Energy Transfer

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 41.6% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 86,310,272 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,423,256,000 after acquiring an additional 25,366,594 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 83,843,087 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,382,573,000 after acquiring an additional 6,192,066 shares during the period. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC acquired a new position in shares of Energy Transfer during the 1st quarter valued at about $61,760,000. SCS Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 1,859.8% during the 2nd quarter. SCS Capital Management LLC now owns 1,942,908 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $37,148,000 after acquiring an additional 1,843,771 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew 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 valued at $992,923,000 after purchasing an additional 1,773,042 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.22% of the company's stock.

Key Energy Transfer News

Here are the key news stories impacting Energy Transfer this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong second-quarter results and higher distribution: Energy Transfer reported second-quarter 2026 sales of $34.33 billion and net income of $2.09 billion, while earnings per unit exceeded expectations. The partnership also raised its quarterly cash distribution to $0.34 per common unit, reinforcing its income appeal. Did Strong Q2 Results and a Higher Payout Just Shift Energy Transfer's Investment Narrative?
• Positive Sentiment: Growth outlook remains constructive: Analysts point to rising NGL exports, high pipeline and fractionator utilization, multi-year export commitments, and an accelerated capital-spending program as drivers of future EBITDA and distribution growth. Management continues to target roughly 3%–5% annual distribution growth while maintaining leverage near 4.0–4.5 times EBITDA. Energy Transfer Is Now Finally Firing on All Growth Cylinders
• Positive Sentiment: Value and income appeal: Zacks identified ET as a highly ranked value stock, while other coverage emphasized its approximately 6.6% distribution yield and improving profits. The combination of valuation support, cash income, and recent earnings beats could attract yield-focused investors. Energy Transfer Is a Top-Ranked Value Stock
• Negative Sentiment: Natural-gas market weakness: Natural-gas futures fell after a larger-than-expected storage build. Lower commodity prices can weigh on sentiment toward energy companies, although Energy Transfer’s fee-based pipeline, storage, and NGL businesses help reduce its direct exposure to gas-price volatility. Nat-Gas Prices Tumble on a Larger-Than-Expected Storage Build

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.

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.

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