Insider Buying: Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) Director Purchases $250,022.57 in Stock

Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) Director James Richard Perry acquired 12,359 shares of Energy Transfer stock in a transaction on Friday, August 7th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $20.23 per share, with a total value of $250,022.57. Following the purchase, 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. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Energy Transfer Stock Performance

Shares of ET stock traded up $0.49 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $20.62. The stock had a trading volume of 11,696,564 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,569,921. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.96 billion, a PE ratio of 14.03, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.55. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $19.63 and its 200 day moving average is $19.22. Energy Transfer LP has a twelve month low of $16.18 and a twelve month high of $20.81.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.21. Energy Transfer had a net margin of 4.87% and a return on equity of 11.55%. The business had revenue of $34.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.71 billion. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 78.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.32 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 7th will be issued a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 7th. This is a positive change from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.6%. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio is currently 92.52%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Energy Transfer by 41.6% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 86,310,272 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,423,256,000 after purchasing an additional 25,366,594 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its position in Energy Transfer by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 83,843,087 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,382,573,000 after purchasing an additional 6,192,066 shares during the period. 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 worth $992,923,000 after buying an additional 1,773,042 shares in the last quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. raised its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 38,675,828 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $637,764,000 after buying an additional 103,245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 30,956,358 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $597,458,000 after buying an additional 1,656,609 shares during the period. 38.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ET. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $23.00 price target (up from $21.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 price objective (up from $24.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Monday. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Zacks Research raised Energy Transfer from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Energy Transfer from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.75.

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.