Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) Shares Up 1.2% – What’s Next?

Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) rose 1.2% on Monday. The stock traded as high as $20.73 and last traded at $20.72. 7,203,562 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 42% from the average daily volume of 12,527,603 shares. The stock had previously closed at $20.47.

Trending Headlines about Energy Transfer

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

• Positive Sentiment: Vaquero Midstream acquisition expands ET’s growth platform. Energy Transfer agreed to acquire Vaquero for approximately $2.625 billion in a bolt-on transaction. The deal is expected to expand its midstream operations and is viewed by some analysts as strategic and accretive. Energy Transfer to Acquire Vaquero Midstream
• Positive Sentiment: Bullish outlook for throughput and earnings. Investment commentary points to strong volume growth, robust downstream capacity utilization and ET’s approximately 90% fee-based business model. A proprietary forecast calls for mid-single-digit revenue growth and margin expansion in fiscal 2027, partly supported by rising power demand from data centers. Energy Transfer: Buy the Dip, Proprietary Forecast Sees Strong Volume Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Potential for higher distributions is supporting income-investor interest. Recent analysis says rising guidance, record volumes and manageable leverage could enable a larger distribution increase, potentially with fourth-quarter results. ET’s yield and diversified operations remain central to the bullish thesis. Energy Transfer: Guidance Keeps Rising, And A Bigger Distribution Hike Is Likely Coming
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst sentiment has improved, but the $26 price target remains an estimate. Energy Transfer was resumed at Buy with a $26 target, while ET has also become a heavily watched stock among investors. These signals may increase attention but do not represent new company fundamentals. What to Know Beyond Why Energy Transfer Is a Trending Stock
• Negative Sentiment: The Vaquero deal carries financing and dilution risks. Consideration includes $1.95 billion in cash and approximately 33.3 million newly issued ET common units. While the acquisition may add cash flow, the cash outlay and unit issuance could pressure leverage, liquidity and per-unit metrics if expected synergies or volume growth do not materialize. Energy Transfer to Buy Vaquero Midstream

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Energy Transfer from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 4th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 target price (up from $23.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and issued a $25.00 target price (up from $24.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Energy Transfer has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $24.36.

Energy Transfer Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a 50-day moving average of $20.89 and a 200-day moving average of $19.97.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $34.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.71 billion. Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 11.55% and a net margin of 4.87%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 78.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.32 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 7th were given a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 7th. This is an increase from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.3375. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is 92.52%.

Insider Transactions at Energy Transfer

In other Energy Transfer news, Director Kelcy L. Warren acquired 647,968 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director James Perry bought 12,359 shares of the business’s 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 acquisition, the director directly owned 208,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,208,770.58. The trade was a 6.32% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders bought 1,012,359 shares of company stock worth $21,513,543. Insiders own 3.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mallini Complete Financial Planning LLC increased its position in Energy Transfer by 1.6% in the third quarter. Mallini Complete Financial Planning LLC now owns 37,256 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $737,000 after buying an additional 601 shares during the period. CX Institutional boosted its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 93.9% during the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 13,015 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $257,000 after acquiring an additional 6,303 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 8.6% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,244,157 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $23,788,000 after acquiring an additional 98,624 shares during the period. Bullseye Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Energy Transfer during the second quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Talon Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Talon Private Wealth LLC now owns 53,343 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,020,000 after acquiring an additional 888 shares during the period. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.