Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) Receives $18.00 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $18.00.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ET. Mizuho reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $19.00 target price (up from $18.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. UBS Group cut their price target on Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Energy Transfer from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st.

Energy Transfer Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE:ET opened at $15.84 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $15.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $14.27. Energy Transfer has a fifty-two week low of $12.18 and a fifty-two week high of $16.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.37 billion, a PE ratio of 14.53 and a beta of 1.64.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The pipeline company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $20.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.46 billion. Energy Transfer had a net margin of 4.85% and a return on equity of 12.17%. The business’s revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.34 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Energy Transfer will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 7th were given a $0.315 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 6th. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.95%. This is an increase from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is currently 115.60%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Energy Transfer by 2.8% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 2,818,699 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $44,338,000 after acquiring an additional 75,463 shares during the last quarter. Sutton Place Investors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Sutton Place Investors LLC now owns 66,007 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,038,000 after purchasing an additional 1,007 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Energy Transfer in the 1st quarter valued at about $664,000. PFG Investments LLC grew its holdings in Energy Transfer by 164.9% during the first quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 115,412 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,815,000 after purchasing an additional 71,845 shares during the period. Finally, Aurora Private Wealth Inc. grew its holdings in Energy Transfer by 1.4% during the first quarter. Aurora Private Wealth Inc. now owns 171,384 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,689,000 after purchasing an additional 2,299 shares during the period. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Energy Transfer

Energy Transfer LP provides energy-related services. The company owns and operates natural gas transportation pipeline, and natural gas storage facilities in Texas and Oklahoma; and approximately 20,090 miles of interstate natural gas pipeline. It also sells natural gas to electric utilities, independent power plants, local distribution and other marketing companies, and industrial end-users.