Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET)

Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) was the target of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Investors purchased 96,003 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 115% compared to the average daily volume of 44,591 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Energy Transfer

In other Energy Transfer news, Director Kelcy L. Warren acquired 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 acquisition, the director directly owned 104,577,803 shares in the company, valued at $1,772,593,760.85. The trade was a 0.97% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.28% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Energy Transfer

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 4.5% during the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 77,651,021 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,332,492,000 after purchasing an additional 3,366,734 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 57,862,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $992,923,000 after buying an additional 1,773,042 shares during the last quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 23,351,183 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $400,706,000 after buying an additional 326,653 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 2.6% in the third quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 21,898,420 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $375,777,000 after buying an additional 544,944 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chickasaw Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 3.2% in the second quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 16,158,771 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $292,959,000 after buying an additional 502,240 shares during the last quarter. 38.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ET has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Energy Transfer from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $22.00 price target (down previously from $25.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group set a $17.00 price objective on shares of Energy Transfer and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $21.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Wednesday, December 24th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.50.

Energy Transfer Stock Performance

Shares of Energy Transfer stock traded down $0.03 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $17.38. The company had a trading volume of 7,978,403 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,368,646. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $16.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.07. The stock has a market cap of $59.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.93, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. Energy Transfer has a 12-month low of $14.60 and a 12-month high of $21.45.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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). The company had revenue of $19.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.84 billion. Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 10.71% and a net margin of 5.66%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.32 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Energy Transfer will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 19th. Investors of record on Friday, November 7th were given a $0.3325 dividend. This is an increase from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. This represents a $1.33 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 7th. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is currently 106.40%.

Energy Transfer Company Profile

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.