Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) Trading Down 1.5% – Here’s What Happened

Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) fell 1.5% on Friday . The company traded as low as $17.71 and last traded at $17.92. 18,088,678 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 11% from the average session volume of 16,331,998 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.19.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ET has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 24th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective (down previously from $25.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $17.00 target price on shares of Energy Transfer and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.50.

Energy Transfer Price Performance

The business has a 50 day moving average of $17.03 and a 200 day moving average of $17.11. The company has a market cap of $61.53 billion, a PE ratio of 14.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 1.14.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by ($0.06). Energy Transfer had a net margin of 5.66% and a return on equity of 10.71%. The company had revenue of $19.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.84 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.32 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.46 EPS for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.335 per share. This is a positive change from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 6th. This represents a $1.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.5%. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 106.40%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kelcy L. Warren bought 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 19th. The stock was bought at an average price of $16.95 per share, for a total transaction of $16,950,000.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 104,577,803 shares in the company, valued at $1,772,593,760.85. This trade represents a 0.97% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.28% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Energy Transfer

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 77,651,021 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,332,492,000 after acquiring an additional 3,366,734 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Energy Transfer by 3.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 57,862,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $992,923,000 after purchasing an additional 1,773,042 shares during the period. Energy Income Partners LLC grew its holdings in Energy Transfer by 1.4% in the third quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 23,351,183 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $400,706,000 after purchasing an additional 326,653 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 2.6% during the third quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 21,898,420 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $375,777,000 after purchasing an additional 544,944 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Energy Transfer during the third quarter valued at approximately $264,309,000. Hedge funds and other 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.