Energy Transfer’s (ET) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at Mizuho

Mizuho restated their buy rating on shares of Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) in a research report released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $19.00 target price on the pipeline company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $18.00.

ET has been the topic of several other reports. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Energy Transfer from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $18.00.

Energy Transfer Price Performance

Shares of Energy Transfer stock opened at $15.53 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.24 and a beta of 1.64. Energy Transfer has a 1-year low of $12.18 and a 1-year high of $16.04. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $15.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $14.23.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The pipeline company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.08. Energy Transfer had a net margin of 4.85% and a return on equity of 12.17%. The business had revenue of $20.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.34 earnings per share. Energy Transfer’s revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Energy Transfer will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 7th were issued a $0.315 dividend. This is a positive change from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 6th. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio is currently 115.60%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Energy Transfer

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Energy Transfer by 109,332.4% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 145,943,387 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,732,348,000 after purchasing an additional 145,810,023 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in Energy Transfer by 28.5% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 81,532,518 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,125,149,000 after purchasing an additional 18,087,249 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Energy Transfer by 20.9% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 76,339,168 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $906,146,000 after purchasing an additional 13,220,435 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Energy Transfer by 14.5% in the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 73,666,501 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,033,541,000 after purchasing an additional 9,341,798 shares during the period. Finally, UBS Group AG raised its holdings in Energy Transfer by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 28,642,769 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $395,270,000 after purchasing an additional 3,368,427 shares during the period. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Energy Transfer Company Profile

Energy Transfer LP provides energy-related services. The company owns and operates natural gas transportation pipeline, and natural gas storage facilities in Texas and Oklahoma; and approximately 20,090 miles of interstate natural gas pipeline. It also sells natural gas to electric utilities, independent power plants, local distribution and other marketing companies, and industrial end-users.