Morgan Stanley Raises Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) Price Target to $21.00

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Energy Transfer from $19.00 to $21.00 while maintaining an "equal weight" rating, implying about a 14.16% upside from the recent share price.
• The stock carries a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" (ten Buys, two Holds) with a consensus target of $21.40, broadly aligned with Morgan Stanley's view.
• Energy Transfer's latest quarter missed EPS expectations ($0.25 vs. $0.34) but beat on revenue with 29.6% YoY growth; shares traded at $18.40 the day of the report, with a P/E around 15.2.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET - Get Free Report) had its target price upped by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from $19.00 to $21.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "equal weight" rating on the pipeline company's stock. Morgan Stanley's price objective indicates a potential upside of 14.16% from the stock's current price.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on ET. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 24th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Wednesday, December 24th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Energy Transfer from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $21.40.

Energy Transfer Stock Down 1.0%

NYSE:ET traded down $0.20 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $18.40. 8,555,623 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,804,541. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $17.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.27. The firm has a market cap of $63.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.20, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.63. Energy Transfer has a fifty-two week low of $14.60 and a fifty-two week high of $19.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The pipeline company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.34 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $25.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $23.56 billion. Energy Transfer had a net margin of 5.11% and a return on equity of 10.17%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 29.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.29 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Energy Transfer will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Energy Transfer

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ET. Morgan Stanley boosted 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 valued at $1,423,256,000 after purchasing an additional 25,366,594 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new position in Energy Transfer during the 3rd quarter valued at about $264,309,000. Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its position 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 buying an additional 6,192,066 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in Energy Transfer by 9.3% in the second quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 21,353,476 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $387,139,000 after buying an additional 1,825,391 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Energy Transfer by 3.2% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 57,862,666 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $992,923,000 after buying an additional 1,773,042 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 38.22% of the company's stock.

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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