Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) Shares Down 1.5% – Time to Sell?

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

ET has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group set a $17.00 target price on shares of Energy Transfer and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 24th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Energy Transfer from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Friday, January 16th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Energy Transfer has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.50.

Energy Transfer Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $61.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.34, a PEG ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $17.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.11.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.34 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $19.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.84 billion. Energy Transfer had a net margin of 5.66% and a return on equity of 10.71%. Energy Transfer’s revenue was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.32 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 6th will be given a dividend of $0.335 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 6th. This represents a $1.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.5%. This is a positive change from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio is presently 106.40%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Energy Transfer news, Director Kelcy L. Warren acquired 1,000,000 shares of Energy Transfer stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 19th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $16.95 per share, with a total value of $16,950,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director 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 SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.28% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Energy Transfer

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new stake in Energy Transfer in the third quarter valued at about $264,309,000. Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 3,366,734 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 9.3% during the 2nd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 21,353,476 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $387,139,000 after buying an additional 1,825,391 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 57,862,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $992,923,000 after acquiring an additional 1,773,042 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jump Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 2,687.9% in the 2nd quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 1,791,358 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $32,477,000 after acquiring an additional 1,727,104 shares during the period. 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.