Energy Transfer Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:ET)

Key Points

• Options activity surged: Investors purchased 48,503 Energy Transfer call options, 48% above the typical daily volume of 32,780.
• Analyst sentiment remains favorable: The stock has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $24.36, despite one recent downgrade to “Hold.”
• Insiders increased their stakes: Company directors bought more than 1 million shares worth approximately $21.5 million over the past 90 days, while Energy Transfer raised its quarterly dividend to $0.34 per share, implying a 6.8% yield.

Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors acquired 48,503 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 48% compared to the typical daily volume of 32,780 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on ET shares. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $24.00 price objective (up from $23.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $23.00 price target (up from $21.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Zacks Research lowered shares of Energy Transfer from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. TD Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $25.00 price objective (up from $24.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Energy Transfer from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $24.36.

Insider Transactions at Energy Transfer

In related news, Director James Perry bought 12,359 shares of Energy Transfer stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 7th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $20.23 per share, with a total value of $250,022.57. Following the acquisition, 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 position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kelcy Warren purchased 647,968 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was bought at an average price of $21.26 per share, for a total transaction of $13,775,799.68. Following the purchase, the director owned 147,901,879 shares in the company, valued at $3,144,393,947.54. The trade was a 0.44% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have bought 1,012,359 shares of company stock valued at $21,513,543. 3.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Energy Transfer

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 8.0% in the 4th 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. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Energy Transfer by 5.7% in 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. Energy Income Partners LLC raised its position in Energy Transfer by 1.8% in the second quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 25,654,536 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $490,515,000 after purchasing an additional 447,081 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in Energy Transfer by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 13,014,994 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $214,617,000 after purchasing an additional 374,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 7,696,319 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $126,912,000 after purchasing an additional 235,863 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.22% of the company's stock.

Energy Transfer Price Performance

Shares of ET stock traded down $0.21 on Tuesday, hitting $19.89. 10,236,064 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,580,968. The company has a 50 day moving average of $20.89 and a 200 day moving average of $19.90. The stock has a market cap of $68.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.94. Energy Transfer has a 12 month low of $16.18 and a 12 month high of $21.84.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.21. Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 11.55% and a net margin of 4.87%.The firm had revenue of $34.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $27.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.32 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 78.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Energy Transfer will post 1.73 EPS for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Investors of record on Friday, August 7th were paid a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 7th. This is a positive change from Energy Transfer's previous quarterly dividend of $0.3375. Energy Transfer's payout ratio is currently 92.52%.

About Energy Transfer

Energy Transfer LP is a diversified energy infrastructure company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The partnership owns and operates a broad network of pipelines, processing facilities, storage assets and terminals that support the movement of natural gas, natural gas liquids, crude oil and refined products across the United States.

The company's operations include gathering and processing natural gas, transporting and storing natural gas and NGLs, fractionating NGLs into component products, and transporting crude oil and refined products.

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