Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) Reaches New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) shares reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $19.86 and last traded at $19.6850, with a volume of 2692416 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $19.67.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial assumed coverage on Energy Transfer in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $23.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Wednesday, December 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised Energy Transfer to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.60.

Energy Transfer Trading Up 0.0%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.22. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $18.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.41. The stock has a market cap of $67.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.26, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.63.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 17th. The pipeline company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.34 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $25.32 billion during 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 firm’s revenue was up 29.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.29 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.46 EPS for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 6th were paid a dividend of $0.335 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 6th. This represents a $1.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.8%. This is an increase from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio is 110.74%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Energy Transfer

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ET. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in 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 period. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Energy Transfer during the 3rd quarter worth $264,309,000. Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 83,843,087 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,382,573,000 after purchasing an additional 6,192,066 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 9.3% during the second quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 21,353,476 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $387,139,000 after purchasing an additional 1,825,391 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position 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.

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.