Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) Trading Up 0.8% Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET - Get Free Report) traded up 0.8% during trading on Tuesday after Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on the stock from $20.00 to $23.00. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Energy Transfer traded as high as $19.07 and last traded at $18.99. 3,530,602 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 74% from the average session volume of 13,666,538 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.84.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on ET. UBS Group boosted their target price on Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $20.00 target price on the stock. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $20.38.

Institutional Trading of Energy Transfer

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC raised its position in Energy Transfer by 44.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 33,379,297 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $535,738,000 after purchasing an additional 10,195,768 shares during the last quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. raised its holdings in Energy Transfer by 12.7% during the 2nd quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 36,668,846 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $594,769,000 after purchasing an additional 4,141,715 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Energy Transfer by 1,491.0% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,175,731 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $67,020,000 after purchasing an additional 3,913,266 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 36.7% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 11,563,478 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $185,594,000 after buying an additional 3,106,631 shares during the period. Finally, Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 45.9% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 9,581,762 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $153,787,000 after buying an additional 3,013,973 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 38.22% of the company's stock.

Energy Transfer Trading Down 0.5 %

The business's 50 day simple moving average is $17.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $64.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.78, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.70.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.32. Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 12.38% and a net margin of 5.90%. The business had revenue of $20.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $21.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.31 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.32 EPS for the current year.

Energy Transfer Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were given a dividend of $0.3225 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.29 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.88%. Energy Transfer's dividend payout ratio is 94.85%.

Energy Transfer Company Profile

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.