Energy Transfer Sees Unusually High Options Volume (TXSE:ET)

Energy Transfer LP (TXSE:ET) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 118,838 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 277% compared to the average volume of 31,557 call options.

Trending Headlines about Energy Transfer

Here are the key news stories impacting Energy Transfer this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Management raised its 2026 adjusted EBITDA outlook to $19.7 billion–$19.9 billion after strong operating results. Third-quarter distributable cash flow rose 33% year over year, and record gas volumes helped drive growth. ET Q3 Earnings Call Puts Gas Demand and Capital Spending in Focus
• Positive Sentiment: Jefferies raised its price target on ET to $25, offering a supportive analyst signal. Energy Transfer PT Raised to $25 at Jefferies
• Positive Sentiment: Energy Transfer approved a $1.6 billion South Mississippi natural-gas pipeline, designed to carry 1.2 billion cubic feet per day. The investment positions the partnership to serve growing regional and export-related gas demand. Energy Transfer sanctions $1.6bn South Mississippi pipeline project
• Positive Sentiment: The partnership raised its quarterly distribution to $0.3425 per unit. Strong distributable cash flow provides substantial coverage for the payout. Energy Transfer: Massive Growth And Another Dividend Hike
• Neutral Sentiment: ET plans about $7 billion in growth capital spending in 2027. The projects could support future earnings, but require significant investment and execution. ET Q3 Earnings Call Puts Gas Demand and Capital Spending in Focus
• Negative Sentiment: Third-quarter earnings were $0.33 per unit, below the $0.40 analyst consensus. The miss may overshadow strong revenue and cash-flow results in the near term. Energy Transfer Q3 Earnings Miss Estimates Despite Record Gas Volumes

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Energy Transfer news, Director Kelcy Warren acquired 647,968 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $21.26 per share, for a total transaction of $13,775,799.68. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 147,901,879 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,144,393,947.54. The trade was a 0.44% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director James Perry purchased 12,359 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $20.23 per share, for a total transaction of $250,022.57. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 208,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,208,770.58. The trade was a 6.32% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders bought 1,012,359 shares of company stock worth $21,513,543 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC acquired a new stake in Energy Transfer during the 1st quarter valued at $61,760,000. SCS Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 1,859.8% during the second quarter. SCS Capital Management LLC now owns 1,942,908 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $37,148,000 after purchasing an additional 1,843,771 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 5.7% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 30,956,358 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $597,458,000 after purchasing an additional 1,656,609 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC increased its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 86.8% in the first quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 1,404,756 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $27,112,000 after buying an additional 652,711 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 48.8% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,982,403 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $38,260,000 after buying an additional 649,718 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 38.22% of the company’s stock.

Energy Transfer Trading Down 3.1%

Energy Transfer stock traded down $0.63 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $19.53. 10,840,064 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,084,118. Energy Transfer has a fifty-two week low of $16.18 and a fifty-two week high of $21.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $67.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.32, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.62. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $20.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45.

Energy Transfer (TXSE:ET) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.07). Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 11.55% and a net margin of 4.87%. The business had revenue of $37.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.98 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.28 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Energy Transfer will post 1.73 EPS for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 6th will be given a dividend of $0.3425 per share. This is an increase from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 6th. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 90.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on ET shares. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and issued a $24.00 price target (up from $23.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Mizuho set a $26.00 target price on Energy Transfer in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Energy Transfer from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 4th. Weiss Ratings raised Energy Transfer from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Thursday, September 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $25.00 target price for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Energy Transfer currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $24.73.

About Energy Transfer

Energy Transfer LP is a diversified energy infrastructure company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The partnership owns and operates a broad network of pipelines, processing facilities, storage assets and terminals that support the movement of natural gas, natural gas liquids, crude oil and refined products across the United States.

The company’s operations include gathering and processing natural gas, transporting and storing natural gas and NGLs, fractionating NGLs into component products, and transporting crude oil and refined products.