Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, and no plans to initiate any such positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
The analysis is provided exclusively for informational purposes and should not be considered professional investment advice. Before investing, please conduct personal in-depth research and utmost due diligence, as there are many risks associated with the trade, including capital loss.
Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
Bank of New York Mellon Corp cut its position in shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET – Free Report) by 20.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 137,093 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 35,878 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Energy Transfer were worth $2,621,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 93.4% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 24,530 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $481,000 after purchasing an additional 11,844 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 62.8% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 21,041 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $391,000 after buying an additional 8,118 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Energy Transfer by 6.2% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 135,395 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,455,000 after buying an additional 7,901 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in Energy Transfer by 436.5% during the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 4,179 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $76,000 after buying an additional 3,400 shares during the period. Finally, Guggenheim Capital LLC lifted its stake in Energy Transfer by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 50,919 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $923,000 after acquiring an additional 2,700 shares in the last quarter. 38.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Shares of NYSE:ET opened at $21.52 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $20.51 and its 200-day moving average is $19.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.16. Energy Transfer LP has a 52 week low of $16.18 and a 52 week high of $21.77. The company has a market capitalization of $74.10 billion, a PE ratio of 14.64, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.57.
Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.32 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 78.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Energy Transfer Increases Dividend The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Investors of record on Friday, August 7th were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. This is a positive change from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 7th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.3%. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio is currently 92.52%.
Insider Activity at Energy Transfer In related news, Director Kelcy Warren purchased 647,968 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $21.26 per share, with a total value of $13,775,799.68. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 147,901,879 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,144,393,947.54. This trade represents a 0.44% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director James Perry bought 12,359 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $20.23 per share, with a total value of $250,022.57. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have bought 1,012,359 shares of company stock worth $21,513,543 over the last three months. 3.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of equities research analysts have commented on ET shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Energy Transfer from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $24.00 price target (up from $23.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Energy Transfer from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Energy Transfer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $24.00 price target (up from $23.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Energy Transfer currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $24.17.
View Our Latest Report on ET
Energy Transfer Company Profile (Free Report)
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.
See Also Five stocks we like better than Energy Transfer 3 Under-the-Radar Defense Stocks With Record Backlogs This Korea ETF Has Soared, But the Rally May Not Be Over Why Guidewire’s Post-Earnings Plunge May Not Last Ride-Share Reckoning: Tesla Drives Into Uber’s Lane Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ET? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET – Free Report).
Receive News & Ratings for Energy Transfer Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Energy Transfer and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
Energy Transfer (ET +0.28%), one of the largest pipeline companies in the U.S., recently postponed the target operational date for its Green Chile Project in New Mexico from Aug. 2026 to Feb. 2027. That delay was caused by regulatory setbacks, land rights disputes, and the loss of its fast-track federal application status amid concerns about its impacts on historical sites.
That sounds like a major setback, since the Green Chile Project was designed to supply up to 400 million cubic feet of natural gas daily to Bloom Energy's fuel cells for Project Jupiter, a massive AI data center campus built by Oracle and OpenAI. But as a long-term Energy Transfer investor, I'm not too worried about this delay.
Image source: Getty Images.
It's a tiny part of its infrastructure The Green Chile Project's pipeline is nearly 18 miles long, but Energy Transfer operates over 140,000 miles of pipeline across 44 states. That 400 million cubic feet might sound like a lot, but Energy Transfer transports over 32 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day through its pipelines. Therefore, this project is just a drop in the pond compared to its massive business.
Energy Transfer has also overcome similar regulatory challenges with its Dakota Access, Rover, Mariner East, and Revolution pipelines, but it eventually completed those projects. That's why I'm not worried about this delay -- and why I still think it's a great long-term income investment.
Leo Sun has positions in Energy Transfer. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bloom Energy and Oracle. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
It doesn't matter your age or experience: taking full advantage of the stock market and investing with confidence are common goals for all investors. Luckily, Zacks Premium offers several different ways to do both.
Featuring daily updates of the Zacks Rank and Zacks Industry Rank, full access to the Zacks #1 Rank List, Equity Research reports, and Premium stock screens, the research service can help you become a smarter, more self-assured investor.
It also includes access to the Zacks Style Scores.
What are the Zacks Style Scores? The Zacks Style Scores is a unique set of guidelines that rates stocks based on three popular investing types, and were developed as complementary indicators for the Zacks Rank. This combination helps investors choose securities with the highest chances of beating the market over the next 30 days.
Each stock is assigned a rating of A, B, C, D, or F based on their value, growth, and momentum characteristics. Just like in school, an A is better than a B, a B is better than a C, and so on -- that means the better the score, the better chance the stock will outperform.
The Style Scores are broken down into four categories:
Value ScoreFinding good stocks at good prices, and discovering which companies are trading under their true value, are what value investors like to focus on. So, the Value Style Score takes into account ratios like P/E, PEG, Price/Sales, Price/Cash Flow, and a host of other multiples to highlight the most attractive and discounted stocks.
Growth ScoreGrowth investors, on the other hand, are more concerned with a company's financial strength and health, and its future outlook. The Growth Style Score examines things like projected and historic earnings, sales, and cash flow to find stocks that will experience sustainable growth over time.
Momentum ScoreMomentum trading is all about taking advantage of upward or downward trends in a stock's price or earnings outlook, and these investors live by the saying "the trend is your friend." The Momentum Style Score can pinpoint good times to build a position in a stock, using factors like one-week price change and the monthly percentage change in earnings estimates.
VGM ScoreIf you like to use all three kinds of investing, then the VGM Score is for you. It's a combination of all Style Scores, and is an important indicator to use with the Zacks Rank. The VGM Score rates each stock on their shared weighted styles, narrowing down the companies with the most attractive value, best growth forecast, and most promising momentum.
How Style Scores Work with the Zacks Rank The Zacks Rank is a proprietary stock-rating model that harnesses the power of earnings estimate revisions, or changes to a company's earnings expectations, to help investors build a successful portfolio.
#1 (Strong Buy) stocks have produced an unmatched +23.8% average annual return since 1988, which is more than double the S&P 500's performance over the same time frame. However, the Zacks Rank examines a ton of stocks, and there can be more than 200 companies with a Strong Buy rank, and another 600 with a #2 (Buy) rank, on any given day.
But it can feel overwhelming to pick the right stocks for you and your investing goals with over 800 top-rated stocks to choose from.
That's where the Style Scores come in.
To have the best chance of big returns, you'll want to always consider stocks with a Zacks Rank #1 or #2 that also have Style Scores of A or B, which will give you the highest probability of success. If you're looking at stocks with a #3 (Hold) rank, it's important they have Scores of A or B as well to ensure as much upside potential as possible.
The direction of a stock's earnings estimate revisions should always be a key factor when choosing which stocks to buy, since the Scores were created to work together with the Zacks Rank.
A stock with a #4 (Sell) or #5 (Strong Sell) rating, for instance, even one with Scores of A and B, will still have a declining earnings forecast, and a greater chance its share price will fall too.
Thus, the more stocks you own with a #1 or #2 Rank and Scores of A or B, the better.
Stock to Watch: Energy Transfer LP (ET - Free Report) Energy Transfer LP is a diversified midstream partnership with operations spanning natural gas, NGLs, crude oil, refined products, terminalling, storage and related services in the United States. Its asset base includes a large network of pipelines and associated infrastructure, supported by gathering, processing, fractionation and logistics capabilities. The partnership also owns interests in Sunoco LP and USA Compression Partners, LP.
ET is a #3 (Hold) on the Zacks Rank, with a VGM Score of A.
Momentum investors should take note of this Oils-Energy stock. ET has a Momentum Style Score of A, and shares are up 6.8% over the past four weeks.
Five analysts revised their earnings estimate higher in the last 60 days for fiscal 2026, while the Zacks Consensus Estimate has increased $0.27 to $1.70 per share. ET also boasts an average earnings surprise of +0.4%.
With a solid Zacks Rank and top-tier Momentum and VGM Style Scores, ET should be on investors' short list.
The yields on 10-year Treasury notes have been hovering near multi-year highs, at around 4.8%. When the 10-year yield hit 4.818% earlier this month, it reached its highest level since November 2023. A combination of inflation and geopolitical risk tied to the U.S.-Iran conflict has largely driven yields higher.
If you're an income-oriented investor, 10-Year Treasuries are an option, but if you're looking for higher yields to better help you keep up with inflation, these three dividend stocks could be great options.
Image source: Getty Images
1. AGNC Investment AGNC Investment's (AGNC -0.09%) 13.5% yield is nearly three times that of the 10-Year Treasury, and the stock pays a monthly dividend. For those unfamiliar with AGNC, it is a mortgage real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns a leveraged portfolio of agency-backed mortgage-backed securities (MBS). Since its MBS investments are backed by government agencies, they carry little default risk. However, interest rates and narrowing and widening spreads between mortgage rates and 10-year Treasury yields can impact the underlying value of its portfolio.
Premium Feature
Moneyball Superscore
47/100
Today's Change
(
-0.09
%) $
-0.01
Current Price
$
10.65
Spreads tend to be the biggest driver of MBS performance and are currently sitting around 2 percentage points. That is below the 3 percentage points they shot to a few years ago, but it is still historically on the high side. With the Fed earlier this year starting to buy back $200 billion in agency MBS and net new MBS supply projected to drop this year, there are the elements in place for spreads to narrow, which would be bullish for AGNC. Overall, this makes it a relatively good environment to own the stock and to collect its juicy yield.
2. Energy Transfer With a 6.3% yield, Energy Transfer (ET +0.28%) gives investors a higher payout than the 10-year Treasury. More importantly, though, the stock also offers strong upside price appreciation potential. The company is both one of the cheapest in the master limited partnership (MLP) space and has some of the best growth prospects. That's a great combination.
The company has one of the most extensive midstream systems in the U.S., led by its natural gas pipeline system. Its position in the Permian gives it access to cheap natural gas, and the company is seeing many growth opportunities tied to AI data center build-outs, rising electricity demand, and NGL (natural gas liquids) export demand. As a result, it plans to spend up to $5.9 billion on high-return growth projects this year.
Today's Change
(
0.28
%) $
0.06
Current Price
$
21.50
Energy Transfer's distribution is well covered by its distributable cash flow (operating cash flow minus maintenance capital expenditures), coming in at a 2.2 time coverage ratio last quarter, and its balance sheet is in good shape. About 90% of its adjusted EBITDA comes from fee-based businesses, but it also has a strong track record of capturing bonus opportunities during energy market dislocations. Meanwhile, it plans to increase its distribution at a 3% to 5% annual pace moving forward.
This all makes Energy Transfer a great high-yield stock to own.
Verizon Communications Verizon Communications' (VZ -0.89%) 5.6% yield is higher than the 10-year Treasury, and it is another stock that has some nice upside potential. The wireless carrier's strategic shift from being technology-centric to a more customer-focused model has been paying off with lower churn and more subscriber additions. This could be seen last quarter when it added 184,000 postpaid phone subscriptions, its best quarter number in five years.
Premium Feature
Moneyball Superscore
70/100
Today's Change
(
-0.89
%) $
-0.45
Current Price
$
50.14
Meanwhile, Verizon has tailwinds that could help drive its stock higher. The biggest is that it has now closed its acquisition of Frontier, which gives it a huge fiber network and a big bundling opportunity. In addition, the company should benefit from the wireless industry starting to move away from large subsidies, which should help improve margins, and from AI data center operators looking for fiber-optic cable networks to connect their data centers.
Verizon's dividend is well covered by its massive free cash flow, and its balance sheet is in great shape. With a growing dividend and a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of just 9.5 based on 2027 earnings estimates, this is a great dividend stock to buy.
Businesses change over time. Sometimes that change can turn a once-risky company into an attractive investment, but only if you can overlook the prior history. Here's why Energy Transfer (ET +0.28%) could be a buy now and why some investors may still prefer to own a lower-yielding peer like Enterprise Products Partners (EPD -0.59%).
Energy Transfer has made "mistakes" Let's get the bad news out of the way first. Energy Transfer agreed to buy pipeline peer Williams (WMB +0.14%) in 2006. It got cold feet when the energy sector hit a weak patch and worked to scuttle the deal. That was probably the right move for the business, which would have likely needed to load up on debt to get the deal done and/or cut the dividend. However, as part of its effort to get out of the acquisition it had agreed to, the company issued convertible securities that appeared to protect insiders from a dividend cut if the deal had gone through.
Image source: Getty Images.
The deal was called off, so the converts turned out to be a non-issue for dividend investors. However, it was a move that would justifiably leave investors with trust issues. Then, during the 2020 oil downturn that accompanied the coronavirus pandemic, the partnership cut its distribution in half. The goal was to strengthen the balance sheet and reposition the business.
This was, again, likely a good move for the business. However, the problem is that the recession during that period was probably a point when dividend investors were hoping for consistency, not dividend cuts. The distribution is growing again and is above its level prior to the cut. And, perhaps more importantly, the business is on a different trajectory today than it has been historically, with what appears to be a focus on slow and steady growth.
Energy Transfer wants to be a tortoise like Enterprise At this point, Energy Transfer is looking to grow its distribution by 3% to 5% per year. That's the slow-and-steady pace that investors have come to expect from peer Enterprise Products Partners. The difference is that Enterprise doesn't have the same negative events in its past. In fact, Enterprise has increased its distribution annually for 28 years. Conservative investors will probably be better off with Enterprise.
Today's Change
(
0.28
%) $
0.06
Current Price
$
21.50
There's just one niggle here. While Enterprise offers an attractive 5.6% yield, Energy Transfer's yield is an even higher 6.3%. To be fair, Enterprise is a simpler business, noting that Energy Transfer also controls two other publicly traded master limited partnerships. The higher yield isn't just about the history; it requires more time and effort to track Energy Transfer. And Energy Transfer does appear to be a riskier investment than Enterprise.
Today's Change
(
-0.59
%) $
-0.23
Current Price
$
38.94
That said, for investors willing to take on the risk, the reward is roughly 12.5% higher income due to the 0.7 percentage-point difference in yields offered by Enterprise and Energy Transfer. Given the repositioning of Energy Transfer's business, including reduced leverage, that could be enough to entice more aggressive and active income investors.
Energy Transfer is not a slam dunk The real takeaway here is that Energy Transfer is a far more attractive income investment today than it was in the past. But that past is important to understand because it could leave more conservative investors with trust issues. And, if that's the case, Energy Transfer, despite an attractive yield, may not be the right choice for you. But, if you can forgive those transgressions and believe the MLP has turned into a slow and steady income tortoise, you might want to give it a shot. Just go in with your eyes open and track the business fairly carefully.
It has been about a month since the last earnings report for Energy Transfer LP (ET - Free Report) . Shares have added about 5.9% in that time frame, outperforming the S&P 500.
But investors have to be wondering, will the recent positive trend continue leading up to its next earnings release, or is Energy Transfer LP due for a pullback? Well, first let's take a quick look at its latest earnings report in order to get a better handle on the recent drivers for Energy Transfer LP before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late.
Energy Transfer Q2 Earnings Beat Estimates on NGL Growth, View Up
Energy Transfer LP reported second-quarter 2026 earnings of 59 cents per unit, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 39 cents by 51.28%. The bottom line increased 84.4% from 32 cents a year ago.
Total RevenuesRevenues of $34.33 billion surpassed the consensus estimate of $31.09 billion by 10.42% and climbed 78.4% year over year. Record NGL transportation and export volumes, along with stronger crude oil and midstream activity, supported the quarter.
Energy Transfer's Segment DetailsNGL and refined products transportation and services revenues increased 29.9% to $7.72 billion. Segment adjusted EBITDA rose 26.6% to $1.31 billion, reflecting stronger marketing, terminal, transportation, storage and fractionation margins.
NGL transportation volumes climbed 13% to a record 2.64 million barrels per day. Terminal volumes rose to 1.86 million barrels per day. Fractionation volumes increased 3% to 1.19 million barrels per day. Higher Permian volumes and stronger exports aided throughput.
Midstream revenues declined 10% to $2.82 billion, but segment adjusted EBITDA increased 15.1% to $884 million. Gathered volumes rose 4% to a record 22.14 million BBtu per day, helped by higher dry-gas gathering and increased Permian processing activity.
Crude oil transportation and services revenues surged 92.3% to $11.05 billion. Segment adjusted EBITDA grew 13.9% to $834 million. Transportation volumes increased 4% to a record 7.34 million barrels per day, supported by higher activity across the Texas, Permian and Bakken systems.
Intrastate transportation and storage revenues fell 36% to $596 million, while segment adjusted EBITDA increased 32.7% to $377 million. Wider basis differentials and early volumes from the Hugh Brinson Pipeline more than offset lower transported volumes and higher expenses.
Interstate transportation and storage revenues rose 3.2% to $609 million, and segment adjusted EBITDA gained 2.3% to $481 million. Higher parking, storage and liquids revenues offset lower utilization on the Trunkline, Gulf Run and Mississippi River systems.
ET's Investments Add to Earnings GrowthRevenues from the investment in the Sunoco LP segment increased 164.5% to $14.26 billion. The segment adjusted EBITDA more than doubled to $982 million, primarily reflecting recent acquisitions and higher contributions from unconsolidated affiliates.
The investment in USA Compression Partners generated revenues of $342 million, up 36.8%. The segment adjusted EBITDA advanced 30.2% to $194 million, driven by the J-W Power acquisition and growth in USAC's legacy operations.
ET's Operational HighlightsTotal costs and expenses were $30.76 billion, up 81.7% year over year, mainly due to a sharp increase in the cost of products sold. Operating expenses, depreciation, depletion and amortization, and selling, general and administrative expenses also increased.
Operating income rose 54.8% to $3.57 billion. Interest expense, net of capitalized interest, increased 8% to $934 million. Net income attributable to partners advanced 79.5% to $2.09 billion.
ET's Cash Flow and Liquidity ImproveAdjusted EBITDA increased 31% to $5.07 billion. Distributable cash flow attributable to partners, as adjusted, rose 32% to $2.59 billion. Second-quarter growth capital expenditures were $1.10 billion, while maintenance capital expenditures were $307 million.
Current assets totaled $23.11 billion at June 30, 2026, compared with $18.23 billion at the end of 2025. Long-term debt, less current maturities, was $68.39 billion. The revolving credit facility had $3.76 billion of available borrowing capacity.
Energy Transfer Raises 2026 Financial GuidanceEnergy Transfer now expects 2026 adjusted EBITDA of $18.8-$19.1 billion, up from the prior range of $18.2-$18.6 billion. The partnership projects growth capital spending of $5.6-$5.9 billion.
The Hugh Brinson Pipeline entered commercial service and is expected to reach full Phase I capacity of 1.5 Bcf per day by Sept. 1, 2026. ET also completed upgrades adding more than 90,000 barrels per day of capacity to the Lone Star Express pipeline and placed the Mustang Draw I processing plant into service.
How Have Estimates Been Moving Since Then?Since the earnings release, investors have witnessed a upward trend in estimates revision.
The consensus estimate has shifted 12.93% due to these changes.
VGM ScoresAt this time, Energy Transfer LP has a great Growth Score of A, a score with the same score on the momentum front. Following the exact same course, the stock was allocated a grade of A on the value side, putting it in the top quintile for value investors.
Overall, the stock has an aggregate VGM Score of A. If you aren't focused on one strategy, this score is the one you should be interested in.
OutlookEstimates have been broadly trending upward for the stock, and the magnitude of these revisions looks promising. Interestingly, Energy Transfer LP has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). We expect an in-line return from the stock in the next few months.
Performance of an Industry PlayerEnergy Transfer LP belongs to the Zacks Oil and Gas - Production Pipeline - MLB industry. Another stock from the same industry, Oneok Inc. (OKE - Free Report) , has gained 10.1% over the past month. More than a month has passed since the company reported results for the quarter ended June 2026.
Oneok reported revenues of $12.05 billion in the last reported quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +52.8%. EPS of $1.53 for the same period compares with $1.34 a year ago.
For the current quarter, Oneok is expected to post earnings of $1.49 per share, indicating no change from the year-ago quarter. The Zacks Consensus Estimate has changed +2.4% over the last 30 days.
Oneok has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) based on the overall direction and magnitude of estimate revisions. Additionally, the stock has a VGM Score of B.
DigitalOcean to Participate in Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference 2026 DigitalOcean Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: DOCN), the AI-Native Cloud, purpose-built for inference and agentic workloads, today announced that Chief Executive Officer Paddy Srinivasan and Chief Financial Officer Matt Steinfort will participate in a fireside chat at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference on Tuesday, September 8 at 8:50 a.m (PT) / 11:50 a.m (ET).
A live webcast will be available at https://cc.webcasts.com/gold006/090826a_js/?entity=56_GPIXTB7. A webcast replay will be available on DigitalOcean’s investor relations website at investors.digitalocean.com.
About DigitalOcean
DigitalOcean (NYSE: DOCN) is the AI-Native Cloud, purpose-built for inference and agentic workloads. Its five-layer integrated platform, spanning GPU and CPU infrastructure, core cloud, inference, data, and managed agent orchestration, is open throughout with no vendor lock-in, giving builders everything they need to start fast, scale production AI workloads, and improve unit economics. More than 680,000 customers and millions of developers globally trust DigitalOcean to build, ship, and scale their applications. Learn more at digitalocean.com.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260901386689/en/
Disclosures I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and have no plans to buy any new positions in the stocks mentioned within the next 72 hours.
For new and old investors, taking full advantage of the stock market and investing with confidence are common goals. Zacks Premium provides lots of different ways to do both.
The research service features daily updates of the Zacks Rank and Zacks Industry Rank, full access to the Zacks #1 Rank List, Equity Research reports, and Premium stock screens, all of which will help you become a smarter, more confident investor.
It also includes access to the Zacks Style Scores.
What are the Zacks Style Scores? Developed alongside the Zacks Rank, the Zacks Style Scores are a group of complementary indicators that help investors pick stocks with the best chances of beating the market over the next 30 days.
Each stock is given an alphabetic rating of A, B, C, D or F based on their value, growth, and momentum qualities. With this system, an A is better than a B, a B is better than a C, and so on, meaning the better the score, the better chance the stock will outperform.
The Style Scores are broken down into four categories:
Value ScoreFor value investors, it's all about finding good stocks at good prices, and discovering which companies are trading under their true value before the broader market catches on. The Value Style Score utilizes ratios like P/E, PEG, Price/Sales, Price/Cash Flow, and a host of other multiples to help pick out the most attractive and discounted stocks.
Growth ScoreGrowth investors, on the other hand, are more concerned with a company's financial strength and health, and its future outlook. The Growth Style Score examines things like projected and historic earnings, sales, and cash flow to find stocks that will experience sustainable growth over time.
Momentum ScoreMomentum investors, who live by the saying "the trend is your friend," are most interested in taking advantage of upward or downward trends in a stock's price or earnings outlook. Utilizing one-week price change and the monthly percentage change in earnings estimates, among other factors, the Momentum Style Score can help determine favorable times to buy high-momentum stocks.
VGM ScoreIf you like to use all three kinds of investing, then the VGM Score is for you. It's a combination of all Style Scores, and is an important indicator to use with the Zacks Rank. The VGM Score rates each stock on their shared weighted styles, narrowing down the companies with the most attractive value, best growth forecast, and most promising momentum.
How Style Scores Work with the Zacks Rank A proprietary stock-rating model, the Zacks Rank utilizes the power of earnings estimate revisions, or changes to a company's earnings outlook, to help investors create a successful portfolio.
It's highly successful, with #1 (Strong Buy) stocks producing an unmatched +23.8% average annual return since 1988. That's more than double the S&P 500. But because of the large number of stocks we rate, there are over 200 companies with a Strong Buy rank, plus another 600 with a #2 (Buy) rank, on any given day.
This totals more than 800 top-rated stocks, and it can be overwhelming to try and pick the best stocks for you and your portfolio.
That's where the Style Scores come in.
To have the best chance of big returns, you'll want to always consider stocks with a Zacks Rank #1 or #2 that also have Style Scores of A or B, which will give you the highest probability of success. If you're looking at stocks with a #3 (Hold) rank, it's important they have Scores of A or B as well to ensure as much upside potential as possible.
As mentioned above, the Scores are designed to work with the Zacks Rank, so any change to a company's earnings outlook should be a deciding factor when picking which stocks to buy.
For instance, a stock with a #4 (Sell) or #5 (Strong Sell) rating, even one that boasts Scores of A and B, still has a downward-trending earnings forecast, and a much greater likelihood its share price will decline as well.
Thus, the more stocks you own with a #1 or #2 Rank and Scores of A or B, the better.
Stock to Watch: Energy Transfer LP (ET - Free Report) Energy Transfer LP is a diversified midstream partnership with operations spanning natural gas, NGLs, crude oil, refined products, terminalling, storage and related services in the United States. Its asset base includes a large network of pipelines and associated infrastructure, supported by gathering, processing, fractionation and logistics capabilities. The partnership also owns interests in Sunoco LP and USA Compression Partners, LP.
ET is a #3 (Hold) on the Zacks Rank, with a VGM Score of A.
Additionally, the company could be a top pick for growth investors. ET has a Growth Style Score of A, forecasting year-over-year earnings growth of 37.2% for the current fiscal year.
For fiscal 2026, five analysts revised their earnings estimate upwards in the last 60 days, and the Zacks Consensus Estimate has increased $0.23 to $1.66 per share. ET boasts an average earnings surprise of +0.4%.
With a solid Zacks Rank and top-tier Growth and VGM Style Scores, ET should be on investors' short list.
Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of EPD either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of ET either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
Taking full advantage of the stock market and investing with confidence are common goals for new and old investors, and Zacks Premium offers many different ways to do both.
Featuring daily updates of the Zacks Rank and Zacks Industry Rank, full access to the Zacks #1 Rank List, Equity Research reports, and Premium stock screens, the research service can help you become a smarter, more self-assured investor.
Zacks Premium also includes the Zacks Style Scores.
What are the Zacks Style Scores? The Zacks Style Scores is a unique set of guidelines that rates stocks based on three popular investing types, and were developed as complementary indicators for the Zacks Rank. This combination helps investors choose securities with the highest chances of beating the market over the next 30 days.
Each stock is assigned a rating of A, B, C, D, or F based on their value, growth, and momentum characteristics. Just like in school, an A is better than a B, a B is better than a C, and so on -- that means the better the score, the better chance the stock will outperform.
The Style Scores are broken down into four categories:
Value ScoreFor value investors, it's all about finding good stocks at good prices, and discovering which companies are trading under their true value before the broader market catches on. The Value Style Score utilizes ratios like P/E, PEG, Price/Sales, Price/Cash Flow, and a host of other multiples to help pick out the most attractive and discounted stocks.
Growth ScoreGrowth investors are more concerned with a stock's future prospects, and the overall financial health and strength of a company. Thus, the Growth Style Score analyzes characteristics like projected and historic earnings, sales, and cash flow to find stocks that will see sustainable growth over time.
Momentum ScoreMomentum trading is all about taking advantage of upward or downward trends in a stock's price or earnings outlook, and these investors live by the saying "the trend is your friend." The Momentum Style Score can pinpoint good times to build a position in a stock, using factors like one-week price change and the monthly percentage change in earnings estimates.
VGM ScoreWhat if you like to use all three types of investing? The VGM Score is a combination of all Style Scores, making it one of the most comprehensive indicators to use with the Zacks Rank. It rates each stock on their combined weighted styles, which helps narrow down the companies with the most attractive value, best growth forecast, and most promising momentum.
How Style Scores Work with the Zacks Rank A proprietary stock-rating model, the Zacks Rank utilizes the power of earnings estimate revisions, or changes to a company's earnings outlook, to help investors create a successful portfolio.
#1 (Strong Buy) stocks have produced an unmatched +23.8% average annual return since 1988, which is more than double the S&P 500's performance over the same time frame. However, the Zacks Rank examines a ton of stocks, and there can be more than 200 companies with a Strong Buy rank, and another 600 with a #2 (Buy) rank, on any given day.
This totals more than 800 top-rated stocks, and it can be overwhelming to try and pick the best stocks for you and your portfolio.
That's where the Style Scores come in.
You want to make sure you're buying stocks with the highest likelihood of success, and to do that, you'll need to pick stocks with a Zacks Rank #1 or #2 that also have Style Scores of A or B. If you like a stock that only has a #3 (Hold) rank, it should also have Scores of A or B to guarantee as much upside potential as possible.
The direction of a stock's earnings estimate revisions should always be a key factor when choosing which stocks to buy, since the Scores were created to work together with the Zacks Rank.
For instance, a stock with a #4 (Sell) or #5 (Strong Sell) rating, even one that boasts Scores of A and B, still has a downward-trending earnings forecast, and a much greater likelihood its share price will decline as well.
Thus, the more stocks you own with a #1 or #2 Rank and Scores of A or B, the better.
Stock to Watch: Energy Transfer LP (ET - Free Report) Energy Transfer LP is a diversified midstream partnership with operations spanning natural gas, NGLs, crude oil, refined products, terminalling, storage and related services in the United States. Its asset base includes a large network of pipelines and associated infrastructure, supported by gathering, processing, fractionation and logistics capabilities. The partnership also owns interests in Sunoco LP and USA Compression Partners, LP.
ET is a #3 (Hold) on the Zacks Rank, with a VGM Score of A.
It also boasts a Value Style Score of A thanks to attractive valuation metrics like a forward P/E ratio of 12.86; value investors should take notice.
Five analysts revised their earnings estimate higher in the last 60 days for fiscal 2026, while the Zacks Consensus Estimate has increased $0.23 to $1.66 per share. ET also boasts an average earnings surprise of +0.4%.
With a solid Zacks Rank and top-tier Value and VGM Style Scores, ET should be on investors' short list.
Blackhill Capital Inc. grew its position in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET – Free Report) by 33.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,600,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 400,000 shares during the period. Energy Transfer makes up approximately 1.3% of Blackhill Capital Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Blackhill Capital Inc.’s holdings in Energy Transfer were worth $30,592,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ET. Archer Investment Corp raised its position in Energy Transfer by 2,087.8% in the 2nd quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 17,502 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $335,000 after buying an additional 16,702 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Energy Transfer by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 199,171 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,808,000 after acquiring an additional 9,254 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC boosted its position in Energy Transfer by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 2,065,797 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $39,498,000 after acquiring an additional 142,821 shares during the last quarter. Asset Allocation Strategies LLC grew its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Asset Allocation Strategies LLC now owns 45,234 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $865,000 after acquiring an additional 738 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 173.7% during the 2nd quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 40,727 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $779,000 after acquiring an additional 25,847 shares in the last quarter. 38.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Insider Buying and Selling at Energy Transfer In related news, Director Kelcy L. Warren acquired 647,968 shares of Energy Transfer stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $21.26 per share, with a total value of $13,775,799.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 147,901,879 shares in the company, valued at $3,144,393,947.54. This trade represents a 0.44% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director James Richard Perry acquired 12,359 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 7th. The stock was bought at an average price 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 approximately $4,208,770.58. The trade was a 6.32% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have acquired a total of 1,012,359 shares of company stock valued at $21,513,543 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 3.28% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes ET has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Energy Transfer from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $24.00 target price (up from $23.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 price objective (up from $24.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Monday, August 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $24.08. Get Our Latest Stock Report on ET
Energy Transfer Stock Down 0.4% Energy Transfer stock opened at $21.30 on Friday. 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 company’s 50-day moving average is $20.22 and its 200-day moving average is $19.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $73.34 billion, a PE ratio of 14.49, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.55. Energy Transfer LP has a fifty-two week low of $16.18 and a fifty-two week high of $21.64.
Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $34.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $27.71 billion. Energy Transfer had a net margin of 4.87% and a return on equity of 11.55%. Energy Transfer’s revenue was up 78.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.32 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current year.
Energy Transfer Increases Dividend The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 7th were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 7th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.4%. This is a positive change from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is 92.52%.
Energy Transfer Company Profile (Free Report)
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.
Featured Articles Five stocks we like better than Energy Transfer 3 Financial Stocks Positioned for the Fed’s Next Move After Jackson Hole IREN’s AI Pivot Looks Real, But the Market Wanted a Faster Payoff After Earnings Boeing’s $131B F-15 Win: Mach 1 Momentum or Just Altitude? Okta Stock Surges 29%—Is $200 the Next Stop?
Receive News & Ratings for Energy Transfer Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Energy Transfer and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
If you were making a list of the companies cashing in on the AI data center build-out boom, a gas pipeline company known for paying dividends probably wouldn't be there. That could be a costly omission. Pipeline giant Energy Transfer (ET -0.33%) has quietly become one of the biggest natural gas suppliers to data centers. That's putting it in a strong position to cash in on the AI power boom.
Here's a closer look at why Energy Transfer should be on your AI investment list.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
Turning on the gasData centers need lots of power, and they need it quickly. The country's electric grid can't keep up with the load requirements or the need for speed. As a result, natural gas is becoming a critical solution to the AI power problem. A growing number of data center developers are turning to gas to fuel on-site power from gas turbines and fuel cells.
They're also turning to Energy Transfer as their gas supplier of choice. Its extensive gas infrastructure includes nearly 107,000 miles of pipelines linking supply sources to demand centers. It has signed several deals to supply gas to support AI data center demand.
Today's Change
(
-0.33
%) $
-0.07
Current Price
$
21.31
One of its biggest deals is with cloud giant Oracle. Energy Transfer will provide about 900,000 Mcf/d of natural gas to three of its U.S. data centers. Oracle is using this gas to power Bloom Energy's advanced fuel cells at one of the sites. It also has a 150,000 Mcf/d deal to supply Nexus with gas for an AI hyperscale campus currently under construction, and an agreement to supply gas to support a 900-megawatt AI factory campus for Crusoe. Additionally, it has an agreement to provide 150,000 Mcf/d of gas to a data center site in Arkansas.
Energy Transfer is also providing more gas to utilities to support growing power demand from AI data centers. It signed a 20-year deal with Entergy to provide at least 250,000 MMBtu/d of gas starting in December 2028. Entergy needs more gas to power data centers, including those Meta Platforms is building in Louisiana. Additionally, it's supplying a total of 300,000 Mcf/d of gas to four new gas-fired power plants in Oklahoma between now and the end of 2028.
High-return investmentsThose projects are only the beginning. Energy Transfer is in advanced discussions with multiple power plants, data centers, and other demand customers for significant additional gas volumes.
Most of its projects will involve building a pipeline lateral from its existing network to connect a new data center or power plant. These projects require a minimal capital investment and generate strong returns. Additionally, growing gas demand is enabling the company to make larger investments, including constructing larger-scale pipelines to transport additional volumes to demand centers and developing additional gathering and processing infrastructure in production basins. Energy Transfer currently has several large-scale gas pipelines under construction, including the $2.7 billion Hugh Brinson and up to $5.6 billion Desert Southwest to support data center and power demand growth in Texas and Arizona, respectively. These larger-scale projects have strong returns.
These investments support Energy Transfer's continued strong growth. It expects to grow its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) by at least 17.5% this year. It currently has projects underway that should enter commercial service through early 2030, including those to support growing demand for oil and natural gas liquids. These projects give it strong growth visibility. That supports its view that it can increase its already high-yielding distribution (over 6%) by 3%-5% annually.
There are risks involved with this backlog. Energy Transfer recently ran into a permitting issue that will delay one Oracle-linked gas pipeline project by six months. There will likely also be delays to future data center developments due to local opposition and other issues. Despite that, gas-fueled onsite power remains a faster solution than waiting on the grid.
Don't overlook Energy TransferThe AI data center build-out story is broader than you might think. It's fueling robust demand for natural gas, which is benefiting sleepy pipeline stocks like Energy Transfer. The master limited partnership (an entity that issues a Schedule K-1 Federal tax form) is an overlooked way to cash in on the boom. That cash will come each quarter via its high-yielding payout.
Matt DiLallo has positions in Bloom Energy, Energy Transfer, and Meta Platforms and has the following options: long December 2028 $650 calls on Meta Platforms, short December 2028 $660 calls on Meta Platforms, and short October 2026 $150 puts on Bloom Energy. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bloom Energy, Entergy, Meta Platforms, and Oracle. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
If you are looking to add some yield to your portfolio, Energy Transfer's (ET -0.09%) 6.3% distribution yield will likely be attractive to you. The one caveat is that it operates in the energy sector, and the last time the sector was in a downturn, Energy Transfer cut its distribution in half. Can this high-yield master limited partnership's (MLP) distribution survive the next energy downturn?
What goes up must come downThe energy sector has been upended by the geopolitical conflict in the Middle East. With reduced supply, commodity prices have risen. In fact, some of the world's largest energy companies have warned that oil and natural gas prices don't fully reflect the situation. In other words, companies like ExxonMobil (XOM -0.63%) and Chevron (CVX -0.24%) think oil prices could rise even further.
Image source: Getty Images.
This situation is headline-grabbing news, but if you look at the long-term, volatility in the energy sector is actually pretty normal. If you are investing in the energy sector for yield, you want to make sure the business you buy can support its dividend through the entire cycle, including the inevitable energy sector downturns. At first blush, Energy Transfer fails that test because it cut its distribution in half in 2020, during the energy downturn that occurred alongside the coronavirus pandemic.
That, however, was a strategic decision that may actually give the midstream MLP the wherewithal to support its distribution through the next weak patch. Notably, Energy Transfer used the distribution cut to focus on strengthening its balance sheet. Debt-to-EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) has gone from a peak of 5.4x at the end of 2020 to 4.1x today.
To be fair, peer Enterprise Products Partners' (EPD -1.09%) debt-to-EBITDA ratio went from 4.1x to 3.3x over the same span, so Energy Transfer is still more leveraged than some of its competitors. However, the longer-term trend is clear: Energy Transfer is focused on becoming a more financially sound and reliable business.
ET Financial Debt to EBITDA (TTM) data by YCharts
Energy Transfer's new goal is slow and steady growthWith the balance sheet in better shape, Energy Transfer's current target is for distribution growth of 3% to 5% a year. That's completely reasonable and is roughly in line with what investors have seen from Enterprise Products Partners, which offers a slightly lower 5.7% yield. Enterprise, however, has a long history of increasing its distribution annually, with a streak that runs 28 years. That's roughly as long as Enterprise has been publicly traded.
Today's Change
(
-0.09
%) $
-0.02
Current Price
$
21.19
For conservative dividend investors, Enterprise is likely the better option. But, if you are trying to maximize the income you generate, Energy Transfer's added risks may be worth it for more aggressive investors. Indeed, both companies own large energy infrastructure portfolios and generate reliable cash flows from fees. Essentially, the volume that Energy Transfer and Enterprise move through their systems is more important than the price of the commodities being moved.
Today's Change
(
-1.09
%) $
-0.42
Current Price
$
38.01
In fact, in some ways, Energy Transfer's distribution looks safer than Enterprise's. Energy Transfer's distributable cash flow covered its distribution by a robust 2.2x in the second quarter, while Enterprise's distribution was covered by a lower, but still strong, 1.9x. Both MLPs have material leeway to deal with adversity.
Complexity could be the decision makerThat said, Energy Transfer is a more complex business, noting that it also controls two other publicly traded MLPs. And it tends to be a bit more aggressive as a business. So, the higher yield relative to Enterprise reflects a higher risk profile. For conservative investors, the extra yield probably won't be worth the added risk. But if you can handle a little uncertainty, you may want to consider Energy Transfer. The distribution is likely to survive the next energy downturn, given the repositioning that occurred during the last energy downturn.
Energy Transfer LP (ET -0.09%) co-founder and executive chairman Kelcy L. Warren purchased 1,000,000 common units in transactions executed on Aug. 18, 2026 and Aug. 19, 2026. SEC Form 4 filing.
Today's Change
(
-0.09
%) $
-0.02
Current Price
$
21.19
Company snapshotSector: EnergyIndustry: Oil & Gas MidstreamMarket Cap: $72.9 billionEnergy Transfer LP functions as a comprehensive provider of energy infrastructure and associated services. The company operates extensive natural gas networks, including approximately 11,600 miles of intrastate transportation pipelines and an additional 19,830 miles dedicated to interstate transport.
Transaction summaryMetricValueTransaction value~$21.3 millionShares purchased (indirectly held)1,000,000Post-transaction shares (total)308,405,103Post-transaction shares (directly held)14,978,717Post-transaction shares (indirectly held)293,426,386Post-transaction value$6.53 billionTransaction value based on SEC Form 4 weighted average purchase price ($21.26); post-transaction value based on the Aug. 19, 2026 market close ($21.18).
Key questionsHow significant is this addition relative to the director's total position?
While the purchase involves ~1.0 million units, it represents a modest 0.33% increase to an overall holding base that exceeds 300 million units, indicating a marginal expansion of an already substantial 9% ownership stake.What is the structure of the indirect holdings for this transaction?
The units were acquired through various legal entities controlled by Kelcy L. Warren, including multiple limited partnerships and corporations; the reporting person disclaims beneficial ownership of these units except to the extent of his pecuniary interest.What is the valuation context for this open-market purchase?
The units were acquired at a weighted average price of $21.26 per share, slightly higher than the Aug. 19, 2026 market close of $21.18, following a 22% total return for the stock over the preceding 12 months.Company OverviewMetricValueShare Price (as of market close 2026-08-19)$21.18Market Capitalization$72.9 billionRevenue (TTM)$104.5 billionNet Income (TTM)$5.8 billionCompany SnapshotEnergy Transfer LP operates an extensive natural gas transportation and storage infrastructure, including approximately 11,600 miles of intrastate pipelines and 19,830 miles of interstate pipelines, along with five natural gas storage facilities located across Texas and Oklahoma.The company generates revenue through midstream energy infrastructure operations, providing natural gas transportation, storage, and distribution services to a diversified customer base across the United States.Energy Transfer serves a broad range of customers including utilities, industrial consumers, and end-use markets, positioning itself as a critical infrastructure provider within the North American energy supply chain.Energy Transfer LP is a leading midstream energy infrastructure provider with a market capitalization of $72.9 billion and TTM revenues of $104.5 billion, reflecting its substantial scale within the oil and gas midstream sector. The company's extensive pipeline network and storage capabilities provide essential energy transportation services, generating consistent cash flows from long-term contracts and fee-based arrangements. With 22,311 employees and a strategically positioned asset base, Energy Transfer maintains competitive advantages through operational scale, geographic diversification, and integrated infrastructure capabilities.
What this transaction means for investorsBillionaire Warren cofounded Energy Transfer in 1996 as a small interstate gas pipeline business. He has since built it into one of the largest publicly traded energy companies in the U.S. Clearly, he knows the business inside and out.
There are many reasons an insider may sell shares in a company. One reason could be the need to raise cash to fund a large personal expense. Another reason could be for a reasonable portfolio diversification unrelated to their outlook for the company. A third reason could be what investors fear most: a bearish outlook on the company's future.
But there is only one reason an insider buys stock: they believe the share price (or in this case,m the unit price) is going up.
By that rule of thumb alone, Warren's purchase of Energy Transfer units is a bullish signal. That he is one of the most knowledgeable people in the energy adds to the bullishness. Those signals are further bolstered by studies showing that, more often than not, an insider purchase predicts a higher share price 30 days later.
There are more reasons to be bullish. Management sees stronger financial performance across all its business arms, with volumes up across divisions and momentum anticipated to continue through 2026. Another plus, management expects to be able to announce new demand from fresh customers for natural gas, one of the main products it transports.
In short, Warren's purchase is a bullish sign, joining other positive indicators for investors to examine.
Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET | ET Price Prediction) director and co-founder Kelcy Warren stepped into the open market on August 18 and August 19, 2026, personally directing the accumulation of a large block of common units at prices within pennies of the partnership’s 52-week high. The Form 4 disclosing the buys was filed with the SEC on August 20, 2026. The checkbox for a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan was not checked, meaning this was discretionary buying at Warren’s direction.
What the Filing Actually Says Warren is listed on the form only as Director. The transactions were coded P for open-market purchases. On August 18, 352,032 common units were acquired at a weighted average price of $21.27, with individual fills ranging from $21.175 to $21.30. On August 19, another 647,968 units were acquired at a weighted average of $21.26, with fills between $21.185 and $21.30. Both blocks were indirect, held through Kelcy Warren Partners, a limited partnership owned by Warren, who disclaims beneficial ownership except to the extent of his pecuniary interest. Units owned by that entity following the two transactions stood at 147,901,879.
Buying Into Strength at 52-Week Highs The signal here is unusual because Warren was buying at the highs. Energy Transfer traded around $21.26 on the morning of August 21, 2026, against a 52-week high of $21.64. The units are up 35.6% year to date, 6.5% over one month, 31.6% over one year, and 249.4% over five years. The market cap stands near $73.0 billion, with a beta of 0.562. Insiders typically buy on weakness for tax and psychological reasons. Buying at the highs, discretionarily, through an entity Warren controls, is a stronger signal of conviction about forward fundamentals than a routine dip-buy would be.
The Thesis the Numbers Support Energy Transfer is executing. Q2 2026 delivered EPS of $0.59 against a $0.37 estimate, with revenue of $34.33 billion, up 78.43% year over year. Adjusted EBITDA rose 31% to $5.07 billion, and management raised full-year 2026 guidance to $18.8 billion to $19.1 billion. Growth capital of $5.6 billion to $5.9 billion is being deployed into projects with visible demand. These include the Hugh Brinson Pipeline, Nederland NGL export expansion, and the Transwestern Desert Southwest upsizing. They also include long-term natural-gas supply to Oracle data centers ramping toward approximately 900 MMcf/d across three sites. The partnership just declared its 19th consecutive quarterly distribution increase, at $0.34 per common unit, or $1.36 annualized.
Should a Retirement Investor Follow? The setup is attractive on the numbers. Forward P/E is 13, the distribution yield is 6.4%, and the Wall Street consensus target is $24.48. That yield is also the kind that makes a mid-six-figure balance start generating meaningful monthly income. (We outline what that looks like at $250K in a free income guide.)
One important caveat for income investors: Energy Transfer is a limited partnership and issues a K-1 for tax reporting. That complicates tax filing, can create unrelated business taxable income inside IRAs above certain thresholds, and generally makes ET a better fit for a taxable brokerage account than a retirement wrapper. Warren’s buying at the highs, in size, without a 10b5-1 plan, is a genuine signal of conviction from the person who knows the asset base best. Retail investors who can accept the K-1 mechanics can currently transact within pennies of an insider’s weighted average fills, a data point worth monitoring alongside forward fundamentals.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
ET reported record Q2 volumes across multiple segments, driven by robust U.S. hydrocarbon export demand and long-term contracts. ET's fee-based contracts provide strong defensiveness against commodity price volatility. ET's growth projects, including major pipelines and processing plants, are backed by long-term commitments and will drive continued distribution growth.
Midstream companies build pipelines and infrastructure to transport crude oil, natural gas, and other resources across thousands of miles. They generate most of their revenue by charging upstream extraction companies and downstream refineries "tolls" to use their pipelines.
That business model is well insulated from volatile commodity prices, as it only needs those resources to keep flowing to generate stable profits. It also generates plenty of cash, so most of the top midstream companies pay high distributions or dividends. Let's take a look at two of those leaders -- Energy Transfer (ET +0.31%) and Enbridge (ENB +2.12%) -- and see why they're still worth buying as stable, high-yield plays in this turbulent market.
Image source: Getty Images.
Energy Transfer operates more than 140,000 miles of pipeline across 44 states. It mainly transports natural gas, liquefied natural gas (LNG), natural gas liquids (NGLs), crude oil, and other refined products. It also helps companies export their natural gas products overseas.
Energy Transfer's crude oil and NGL volumes surged to record levels in the first half of 2026. That acceleration was driven by increased domestic oil production and long-term natural gas supply agreements with utilities and data centers to fuel the AI boom.
Energy Transfer operates as a Master Limited Partnership (MLP), which treats you as a business partner instead of a regular shareholder. So while you need to file its distributions separately on a K-1 form with your taxes every year, it blends a return of capital with its own income to pay more tax-efficient distributions than conventional dividends.
Today's Change
(
0.31
%) $
0.07
Current Price
$
21.25
MLPs cover their distributions with their distributable cash flow (DCF). From 2020 to 2025, Energy Transfer's adjusted annualized DCF rose from $5.74 billion to $8.21 billion, while its annual distributions grew from $2.47 billion to $4.56 billion.
That comfortable coverage ratio, which Energy Transfer aims to keep above 1.8x, should help the company meet its long-term goal of raising its distribution at an annual rate of 3%-5%. It pays a forward yield of 6.4%, and it's raised that payout for 19 consecutive quarters. With an enterprise value of $142 billion, Energy Transfer still looks reasonably valued at 17 times last year's adjusted DCF -- so it's one of the safest pipeline stocks to buy, hold, and forget.
Enbridge If you don't want to deal with Energy Transfer's extra tax forms, Enbridge -- which is based in Canada and operates as a regular C-corporation -- might be the simpler choice. Enbridge operates over 70,000 miles of pipelines and smaller feeder lines in North America. It mainly transports crude oil and natural gas across the U.S. and Canada.
Unlike Energy Transfer, which transports sweet light crude oil and NGLs from the Permian, Eagle Ford, and Mid-Continent basins in the U.S., Enbridge primarily exports Canadian heavy crude oil to refineries across the Midwest U.S. and Gulf Coast. But just like Energy Transfer, Enbridge experienced record-setting throughput volumes this year. Enbridge also recently acquired and integrated three major U.S. gas utilities from Dominion Energy (D -0.67%), becoming North America's largest natural gas utility platform.
Today's Change
(
2.12
%) $
1.07
Current Price
$
51.32
From 2020 to 2025, Enbridge's DCF per share grew from $4.67 CAD to $5.71 CAD. That cash easily covered its dividends, which rose from $3.24 CAD to $3.77 CAD during the same period. It's raised its payout annually for 31 consecutive years and pays a forward yield of 5.6%.
At $52 per share, Enbridge trades at 24 times this year's earnings. Its higher valuation and lower yield might make it slightly less appealing than Energy Transfer, but it's still a great play on rising oil prices and the AI market's soaring demand for natural gas.
Energy Transfer remains a strong buy, supported by robust distributable cash flow growth, a 6.3% yield, and a recent guidance raise. Q2 results showed a 32% increase in partner-attributable DCF and 49% growth in first-half conventional free cash flow, with distribution coverage above 2.2x. ET's fee-based, diversified asset base and large, contracted project backlog underpin visibility; 2026 EBITDA guidance was raised to $18.8–$19.1 billion.
My top financial goal right now is to grow my passive income. I'm approaching the point where I can coast into an early retirement. However, I need to build a bridge until I can tap into my retirement accounts. My strategy is to grow my passive income to the point where it can cover my basic living expenses, allowing me to work less until I retire.
Investing in high-yield dividend stocks is core to my strategy. Here are three income stocks that I'd buy if I had $5,000 to invest right now.
Image source: Getty Images.
Ares CapitalAres Capital (ARCC +0.15%) currently yields almost 10%. That's about 10 times higher than the S&P 500's 1% yield. Its monster dividend is a passive income maximizer.
The business development company (BDC) has an exceptional track record of paying dividends. It has delivered a stable-to-growing dividend for 17 straight years. That's a testament to its strong underwriting capabilities. It has achieved an average annual realized gain of 1% in excess of losses since its IPO. As a result, its direct loans and other investments have provided it with a durable, growing income stream to cover its dividend.
Today's Change
(
0.15
%) $
0.03
Current Price
$
19.67
Ares Capital currently has more than adequate dividend coverage. Through the first half of this year, it has recorded $0.94 per share of core earnings and $0.14 per share in net realized gains, more than covering the $0.96 it paid in dividends. It also entered the year with a solid cushion of $1.38 per share of excess taxable income from last year, which it carried forward for distribution in 2026. With a healthy portfolio and balance sheet, Ares' dividend remains on a rock-solid foundation.
Energy TransferEnergy Transfer (ET +2.29%) currently yields around 6.5%. The master limited partnership (MLP) -- which sends a Schedule K-1 Federal tax form each year -- has increased its distribution for 19 straight quarters. It aims to grow its high-yielding payout by 3% to 5% each year.
The MLP is in a strong position to achieve that target. It generated nearly $5.3 billion in distributable cash flow during the first half of this year, more than covering the $2.3 billion it paid in distributions. That's enabling it to retain billions of dollars for reinvestment.
Today's Change
(
2.29
%) $
0.48
Current Price
$
21.42
Energy Transfer currently expects to invest $5.5 billion to $5.9 billion into growth capital projects this year, including oil and gas pipelines, new processing plants, and export terminal capacity expansions. It currently has projects underway that it expects to complete through early 2030. That adds significant visibility to support its distribution growth plan.
VICI PropertiesVICI Properties (VICI -0.19%) yields almost 7%. The real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on experiential real estate, such as gaming, entertainment, and hospitality properties, has increased its dividend every year since its IPO in 2018. It has grown its payout at a 7% compound annual rate during that period, much faster than other REITs focused on triple-net-leased real estate (2.4% peer average).
Today's Change
(
-0.19
%) $
-0.05
Current Price
$
25.91
The REIT's long-term, triple-net leases provide it with stable income that grows with inflation. About 45% of its leases feature inflation escalators this year, rising to 87% by 2035. Meanwhile, VICI Properties has a conservative dividend payout ratio (75% of its cash flow) and a solid investment-grade balance sheet, giving it the funding to invest in additional income-producing properties.
VICI Properties routinely makes sale-leaseback transactions to grow its portfolio. It recently bought seven casino properties in Nevada through a $1.2 billion sale-leaseback deal. The REIT also invests in development and expansion projects to support its tenants. For example, it recently secured a build-to-suit transaction to acquire and redevelop a resort in St. Croix ($75.5 million total investment). Additionally, it will invest in real estate-backed loans, providing a stable additional source of income.
Turning $5,000 into a meaningful income streamIf you split a $5,000 investment equally across this trio of high-yield dividend stocks, they'd generate nearly $400 in annual passive dividend income (7.7% blended yield). For comparison, a $5,000 investment in an S&P 500 index fund would only produce about $50 of annual dividend income.
What I like about this group is that this income should be durable and steadily rising. All three have grown their dividends over the years and should continue to do so. That's why I wouldn't hesitate to invest $5,000 into them right now.
Since reporting its second-quarter 2026 financial results on Aug. 4, Energy Transfer (ET +1.40%) has seen its shares climb more than 2%, trading near its 52-week high of $21.11.
Before the announcement, Energy Transfer units were trading around $20.20 to $20.28. The question is whether the price rise in the energy stock can continue. Three reasons why it can, with one reason why it may not:
Image source: Getty Images.
Surging natural gas demand from data centers
Energy Transfer is a diverse midstream energy company and is uniquely positioned to capture massive, long-term demand for natural gas infrastructure driven by artificial intelligence (AI) data center build-outs, power grid expansions, and Gulf Coast natural gas liquids (NGL) export facilities. In the second quarter, management for the master limited partnership highlighted expanded takeaway capacity in key basins, including the Permian, ensuring high utilization across its expansive pipeline network.
The company reported that its 442-mile Hugh Brinson Pipeline has come online earlier than expected, though full capacity isn't expected until March 2027. The Brinson pipeline moves natural gas from processing facilities in West Texas to existing pipelines south of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, allowing customers the ability to reach several destinations in Texas and Louisiana. As it was, in the second quarter, NGL exports were up 25% year over year, a company record.
Today's Change
(
1.40
%) $
0.29
Current Price
$
21.05
The company also completed upgrades to its Lone Star Express NGL pipeline and pressed into service its third and fourth 10-megawatt natural-gas-fired electricity generation plants. The company's power generation business serves 15 states with approximately 185 plants connected directly or indirectly via its extensive natural gas pipeline network. The company has long-term power agreements that directly or indirectly help hyperscalers such as Oracle, Cloudburst Technologies, and Meta Platforms.
It sees improvements to its free cash flow and capital returns
Energy Transfer reported distributable cash flow of $2.59 billion in the second quarter, up 32% year over year. That rise is what's behind the company's $500 million guidance hike to full-year adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), now in the range of $18.8 billion to $19.1 billion, reflecting strong fee-based cash flows that insulate the business from short-term commodity price swings.
This expanding cash generation directly supports further leverage reduction and continued quarterly distribution growth for unitholders.
Despite its nearly more than 26% rise so far this year in price, the company continues to trade at a modest trailing enterprise-value-to-EBITDA multiple of around 9.7, low compared to its historical averages and its main midstream peers of Enbridge, Enterprise Products Partners, and Kinder Morgan. As institutional confidence improves following consistent operational execution and debt paydown, the stock has room for valuation re-rating.
The company's strong dividend
Energy Transfer just raised its distribution for the 19th consecutive quarter to $0.34 per share , and at the stock's current price, the yield is around 6.43%. That's superior to its main midstream competitors. If it matches its expected distributable cash flow, it has more than enough to cover its dividend and planned capital expenditures.
Watch for a drop in commodity prices
The price of natural gas has declined around 29% since peaking in late January. If sustained low natural gas prices or broader macroeconomic slowdowns force upstream oil and gas producers to trim drilling budgets or shut in production, gathering, and processing (G&P) volumes could contract.
While Energy Transfer relies heavily on fee-based, take-or-pay contracts, prolonged volume declines across regional basins would cap top-line growth and squeeze margins on uncommitted capacity.
Energy Transfer (ET +1.52%), one of the largest midstream pipeline companies in the United States, pays a forward yield of 6.5%. That yield might seem high, but it's supported by plenty of cash and long-term catalysts. Let's see why it's still a reliable income play for patient investors.
Why is Energy Transfer a reliable stock?
Energy Transfer operates more than 140,000 miles of pipeline across 44 states. It transports natural gas, liquefied natural gas (LNG), natural gas liquids (NGLs), crude oil, and other refined products, and helps companies export some of their natural gas products.
Image source: Getty Images.
As a pipeline operator, Energy Transfer generates most of its revenue by charging upstream producers and downstream refineries "tolls" to use its infrastructure. That business model is insulated from volatile commodity prices because it only needs those resources to keep flowing through its pipes. However, the soaring demand for oil and natural gas continued to boost crude oil and NGL volumes to record levels in the first half of 2026. It also secured more long-term agreements with utilities and data centers to supply natural gas for the booming cloud infrastructure and artificial intelligence (AI) markets.
Today's Change
(
1.52
%) $
0.32
Current Price
$
21.08
How stable are its distributions?
Energy Transfer is a Master Limited Partnership (MLP), which technically treats you as a partner rather than a regular shareholder. It blends a return of capital with its own cash to pay more tax-efficient distributions instead of traditional dividends. Still, you'll need to report that income separately on a K-1 form every year when you file your taxes.
Energy Transfer, like other MLPs, covers its distributions with its distributable cash flow (DCF). Its DCF has easily covered its total distributions over the past few years, even as the pandemic, inflation, soaring interest rates, and geopolitical conflicts rattled the commodities market.
Metric (Billions USD)
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
Adjusted Annualized DCF
$5.74
$8.22
$7.45
$7.58
$8.36
$8.21
Total Distributions
$2.47
$1.78
$3.09
$3.99
$4.39
$4.56
Data source: Energy Transfer.
Energy Transfer has raised its payout for 19 consecutive quarters, and it plans to raise its distribution at an annual rate of 3% to 5% as long as its coverage ratio (its adjusted DCF to distributions) -- which came in at 1.8x in 2025 -- stays around that level. That's why it's a reliable income stock, even if it pays a higher yield than many other pipeline companies.
Leo Sun has positions in Energy Transfer. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Taking full advantage of the stock market and investing with confidence are common goals for new and old investors, and Zacks Premium offers many different ways to do both.
Featuring daily updates of the Zacks Rank and Zacks Industry Rank, full access to the Zacks #1 Rank List, Equity Research reports, and Premium stock screens, the research service can help you become a smarter, more self-assured investor.
Zacks Premium includes access to the Zacks Style Scores as well.
What are the Zacks Style Scores? The Zacks Style Scores, developed alongside the Zacks Rank, are complementary indicators that rate stocks based on three widely-followed investing methodologies; they also help investors pick stocks with the best chances of beating the market over the next 30 days.
Based on their value, growth, and momentum characteristics, each stock is assigned a rating of A, B, C, D, or F. The better the score, the better chance the stock will outperform; an A is better than a B, a B is better than a C, and so on.
The Style Scores are broken down into four categories:
Value ScoreFor value investors, it's all about finding good stocks at good prices, and discovering which companies are trading under their true value before the broader market catches on. The Value Style Score utilizes ratios like P/E, PEG, Price/Sales, Price/Cash Flow, and a host of other multiples to help pick out the most attractive and discounted stocks.
Growth ScoreGrowth investors are more concerned with a stock's future prospects, and the overall financial health and strength of a company. Thus, the Growth Style Score analyzes characteristics like projected and historic earnings, sales, and cash flow to find stocks that will see sustainable growth over time.
Momentum ScoreMomentum trading is all about taking advantage of upward or downward trends in a stock's price or earnings outlook, and these investors live by the saying "the trend is your friend." The Momentum Style Score can pinpoint good times to build a position in a stock, using factors like one-week price change and the monthly percentage change in earnings estimates.
VGM ScoreIf you want a combination of all three Style Scores, then the VGM Score will be your friend. It rates each stock on their combined weighted styles, helping you find the companies with the most attractive value, best growth forecast, and most promising momentum. It's also one of the best indicators to use with the Zacks Rank.
How Style Scores Work with the Zacks Rank The Zacks Rank is a proprietary stock-rating model that harnesses the power of earnings estimate revisions, or changes to a company's earnings expectations, to help investors build a successful portfolio.
Investors can count on the Zacks Rank's success, with #1 (Strong Buy) stocks producing an unmatched +23.94% average annual return since 1988, more than double the S&P 500's performance. But the model rates a large number of stocks, and there are over 200 companies with a Strong Buy rank, plus another 600 with a #2 (Buy) rank, on any given day.
This totals more than 800 top-rated stocks, and it can be overwhelming to try and pick the best stocks for you and your portfolio.
That's where the Style Scores come in.
To maximize your returns, you want to buy stocks with the highest probability of success. This means picking stocks with a Zacks Rank #1 or #2 that also have Style Scores of A or B. If you find yourself looking at stocks with a #3 (Hold) rank, make sure they have Scores of A or B as well to ensure as much upside potential as possible.
Since the Scores were created to work together with the Zacks Rank, the direction of a stock's earnings estimate revisions should be a key factor when choosing which stocks to buy.
For instance, a stock with a #4 (Sell) or #5 (Strong Sell) rating, even one that boasts Scores of A and B, still has a downward-trending earnings forecast, and a much greater likelihood its share price will decline as well.
Thus, the more stocks you own with a #1 or #2 Rank and Scores of A or B, the better.
Stock to Watch: Energy Transfer LP (ET - Free Report) Energy Transfer LP is a diversified midstream partnership with operations spanning natural gas, NGLs, crude oil, refined products, terminalling, storage and related services in the United States. Its asset base includes a large network of pipelines and associated infrastructure, supported by gathering, processing, fractionation and logistics capabilities. The partnership also owns interests in Sunoco LP and USA Compression Partners, LP.
ET is a #3 (Hold) on the Zacks Rank, with a VGM Score of A.
Momentum investors should take note of this Oils-Energy stock. ET has a Momentum Style Score of A, and shares are up 5.2% over the past four weeks.
Three analysts revised their earnings estimate higher in the last 60 days for fiscal 2026, while the Zacks Consensus Estimate has increased $0.14 to $1.57 per share. ET also boasts an average earnings surprise of +0.4%.
With a solid Zacks Rank and top-tier Momentum and VGM Style Scores, ET should be on investors' short list.
Ballast Inc. bought a new position in shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET – Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 43,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $822,000.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ET. Tema ETFs LLC increased its holdings in Energy Transfer by 47.5% in the 2nd quarter. Tema ETFs LLC now owns 1,366,371 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $26,125,000 after buying an additional 440,228 shares during the period. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 48.9% during the 2nd quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 45,068 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $862,000 after acquiring an additional 14,795 shares during the period. Harrell Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 55.8% during the 2nd quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC now owns 21,928 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $419,000 after acquiring an additional 7,857 shares during the period. Focus Financial Network Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 42.2% during the 2nd quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 30,048 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $575,000 after acquiring an additional 8,916 shares during the period. Finally, Allied Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Energy Transfer during the 2nd quarter valued at about $229,000. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Energy Transfer Stock Up 0.7% ET opened at $20.93 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $19.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.16. Energy Transfer LP has a twelve month low of $16.18 and a twelve month high of $20.96. The firm has a market cap of $72.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.24, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.55.
Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $34.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.71 billion. Energy Transfer had a net margin of 4.87% and a return on equity of 11.55%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 78.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.32 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.52 EPS 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. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 7th. This is an increase from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 92.52%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of research firms recently weighed in on ET. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Weiss Ratings raised Energy Transfer from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Tuesday. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $24.00 price objective (up from $23.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $25.00 target price (up from $24.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Energy Transfer has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.92.
View Our Latest Analysis on ET
Insider Buying and Selling In other Energy Transfer news, Director James Richard Perry purchased 12,359 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 7th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $20.23 per share, for a total transaction of $250,022.57. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 208,046 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,208,770.58. The trade was a 6.32% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 3.28% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
About Energy Transfer (Free Report)
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.
Further Reading Five stocks we like better than Energy Transfer GE Vernova’s AI Power Boom Faces a Profit Test Cardinal Health Earnings: Can Perfection Get Priced In Twice? Nebius’ Q2 Beat Shows the AI Bottleneck Is Capacity, Not Demand Legacy Jet Builders Stall While Embraer Accelerates to New Highs Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ET? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET – Free Report).
Receive News & Ratings for Energy Transfer Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Energy Transfer and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
« PREVIOUS HEADLINEBallast Inc. Acquires 1,623 Shares of Visa Inc. $V
NEXT HEADLINE »Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Sells 87,323 Shares of Liquidity Services, Inc. $LQDT
It doesn't matter your age or experience: taking full advantage of the stock market and investing with confidence are common goals for all investors. Luckily, Zacks Premium offers several different ways to do both.
Featuring daily updates of the Zacks Rank and Zacks Industry Rank, full access to the Zacks #1 Rank List, Equity Research reports, and Premium stock screens, the research service can help you become a smarter, more self-assured investor.
Zacks Premium includes access to the Zacks Style Scores as well.
What are the Zacks Style Scores? The Zacks Style Scores is a unique set of guidelines that rates stocks based on three popular investing types, and were developed as complementary indicators for the Zacks Rank. This combination helps investors choose securities with the highest chances of beating the market over the next 30 days.
Each stock is assigned a rating of A, B, C, D, or F based on their value, growth, and momentum characteristics. Just like in school, an A is better than a B, a B is better than a C, and so on -- that means the better the score, the better chance the stock will outperform.
The Style Scores are broken down into four categories:
Value ScoreFor value investors, it's all about finding good stocks at good prices, and discovering which companies are trading under their true value before the broader market catches on. The Value Style Score utilizes ratios like P/E, PEG, Price/Sales, Price/Cash Flow, and a host of other multiples to help pick out the most attractive and discounted stocks.
Growth ScoreGrowth investors are more concerned with a stock's future prospects, and the overall financial health and strength of a company. Thus, the Growth Style Score analyzes characteristics like projected and historic earnings, sales, and cash flow to find stocks that will see sustainable growth over time.
Momentum ScoreMomentum investors, who live by the saying "the trend is your friend," are most interested in taking advantage of upward or downward trends in a stock's price or earnings outlook. Utilizing one-week price change and the monthly percentage change in earnings estimates, among other factors, the Momentum Style Score can help determine favorable times to buy high-momentum stocks.
VGM ScoreIf you want a combination of all three Style Scores, then the VGM Score will be your friend. It rates each stock on their combined weighted styles, helping you find the companies with the most attractive value, best growth forecast, and most promising momentum. It's also one of the best indicators to use with the Zacks Rank.
How Style Scores Work with the Zacks Rank The Zacks Rank, which is a proprietary stock-rating model, employs earnings estimate revisions, or changes to a company's earnings expectations, to make building a winning portfolio easier.
Investors can count on the Zacks Rank's success, with #1 (Strong Buy) stocks producing an unmatched +23.94% average annual return since 1988, more than double the S&P 500's performance. But the model rates a large number of stocks, and there are over 200 companies with a Strong Buy rank, plus another 600 with a #2 (Buy) rank, on any given day.
With more than 800 top-rated stocks to choose from, it can certainly feel overwhelming to pick the ones that are right for you and your investing journey.
That's where the Style Scores come in.
To maximize your returns, you want to buy stocks with the highest probability of success. This means picking stocks with a Zacks Rank #1 or #2 that also have Style Scores of A or B. If you find yourself looking at stocks with a #3 (Hold) rank, make sure they have Scores of A or B as well to ensure as much upside potential as possible.
As mentioned above, the Scores are designed to work with the Zacks Rank, so any change to a company's earnings outlook should be a deciding factor when picking which stocks to buy.
Here's an example: a stock with a #4 (Sell) or #5 (Strong Sell) rating, even one with Style Scores of A and B, still has a downward-trending earnings outlook, and a bigger chance its share price will decrease too.
Thus, the more stocks you own with a #1 or #2 Rank and Scores of A or B, the better.
Stock to Watch: Energy Transfer LP (ET - Free Report) Energy Transfer LP is a diversified midstream partnership with operations spanning natural gas, NGLs, crude oil, refined products, terminalling, storage, and related services in the United States. Its asset base includes a large network of pipelines and associated infrastructure across many states, supported by gathering, processing, fractionation, and logistics capabilities. The partnership also owns interests in other businesses, including Sunoco LP and USA Compression Partners, LP.
ET is a #3 (Hold) on the Zacks Rank, with a VGM Score of A.
Additionally, the company could be a top pick for growth investors. ET has a Growth Style Score of A, forecasting year-over-year earnings growth of 25.6% for the current fiscal year.
Three analysts revised their earnings estimate higher in the last 60 days for fiscal 2026, while the Zacks Consensus Estimate has increased $0.09 to $1.52 per share. ET also boasts an average earnings surprise of +0.4%.
With a solid Zacks Rank and top-tier Growth and VGM Style Scores, ET should be on investors' short list.
Energy Transfer (ET) delivered a standout Q2 2026, with 78% YoY revenue growth, record volumes, and a second consecutive guidance raise, underscoring accelerating operational momentum. ET's strategic positioning in the AI-driven data center buildout is translating into contracted natural gas demand and robust project backlogs, driving visibility into multi-year EBITDA and DCF growth. The distribution profile has transformed, with 19 consecutive quarterly increases, 2.2x coverage, and a payout ratio under 44%, supporting a 6.61% yield and sustainable dividend growth.
Recently, there's been a flurry of positive dividend activity in the midstream energy sector with both well-known and lesser-heralded pipeline firms boosting payouts.
Energy Transfer (ET +2.29%) is one of the guests at the midstream dividend increase party. Following a July distribution increase of nearly 1%, Energy Transfer's consecutive streak of boosted payouts now spans an impressive 19 quarters, or nearly five years for those keeping score at home. Typically, Energy Transfer delivers gentle upside nudges to its dividend, and investors love the consistency.
Energy Transfer continues raising its dividend and investors should expect that trend to continue. Image source: Getty Images.
Plus, those modest increases add up over time. The stock yields 6.7% and, by some estimates, if its current trajectory of dividend increases continues, the dividend could nearly double over the next decade. That'd be music to the ears of long-term investors. Fortunately, this pipeline stock has the fundamentals to keep good dividend times coming.
Stars aligning for dividend growth Not only did Energy Transfer announce a dividend increase in July, but it also followed that up with a second-quarter earnings report and updated 2026 guidance confirming the distribution is on solid ground and poised for long-term growth.
In the June quarter, Energy Transfer's distributable cash flow (DCF), one of the bedrocks of pipeline operators' dividends, climbed to $2.59 billion from $1.96 billion a year earlier. The midstream company's DCF could continue to improve in the current quarter and beyond, driven by the revised 2026 guidance. Energy Transfer told investors it now expects 2026 full-year adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of $18.8 billion to $19.1 billion, up from a prior forecast of $18.2 billion to $18.6 billion.
Regardless of sector, if there's anything that investors should demand of dividend-paying companies, it's rising earnings and cash flow. Those are telltale signs that current dividend obligations can be met and that payouts can grow over the long term.
Today's Change
(
2.29
%) $
0.46
Current Price
$
20.59
Longer-ranging support for the distribution doesn't end there. Energy Transfer is a diverse midstream operator with exposure to natural gas liquids (NGLs) and oil transportation as well as midstream gathering. That diversity matters for multiple reasons. First, management sounded optimistic about improving finances across its various segments. Second, in just a year, NGL projects went from out of fashion to being in high demand, indicating that Energy Transfer's related investments could pay dividends (pun intended).
AI angles Investors seeking artificial intelligence (AI) "derivative" exposure while balancing low-yielding, growth-heavy portfolios with income-generating assets should look to the midstream sector, including Energy Transfer.
All those high-priced data centers need power, but it can take years for traditional utilities to obtain all the permits required to deliver grid power to data centers. Guess which companies are adept at transporting energy? Pipeline operators such as Energy Transfer.
On the company's second-quarter earnings conference call, co-CEO Thomas Long said customers are expressing interest in upping their commitments for Energy Transfer's services that deliver energy to data centers and nearby power facilities. He also mentioned "advanced negotiations" with customers in six states to provide additional natural gas volumes.
Imagine capturing steady dividends while participating in the AI trade. With Energy Transfer, that's a reality, not a dream.
Sunoco LP (NYSE: SUN) (âSunocoâ or the âPartnershipâ) and SunocoCorp LLC (NYSE: SUNC) (âSUNCâ) announced today their participation in upcoming inves
Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of ET either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
Bank of New York Mellon Corp reduced its stake in shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET – Free Report) by 37.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 172,971 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 102,593 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Energy Transfer were worth $3,338,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Energy Transfer by 93.4% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 24,530 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $481,000 after buying an additional 11,844 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 62.8% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 21,041 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $391,000 after purchasing an additional 8,118 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 6.2% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 135,395 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,455,000 after purchasing an additional 7,901 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 436.5% during the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 4,179 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 3,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Guggenheim Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 5.6% during the second quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 50,919 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $923,000 after purchasing an additional 2,700 shares in the last quarter. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Energy Transfer Stock Performance ET opened at $20.14 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The firm has a market cap of $69.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.70, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.55. Energy Transfer LP has a 1-year low of $16.18 and a 1-year high of $20.81.
Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.21. Energy Transfer had a net margin of 4.87% and a return on equity of 11.71%. The firm had revenue of $34.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $27.71 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.32 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 78.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 7th will be paid a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.8%. This is a positive change from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 7th. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio is currently 91.84%.
Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of brokerages have recently commented on ET. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $23.00 target price (up from $21.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 price target (up from $23.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Energy Transfer from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 target price (up from $23.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.67.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on ET
Energy Transfer News Summary Here are the key news stories impacting Energy Transfer this week:
Positive Sentiment: Strong second-quarter results and higher distribution: Energy Transfer reported second-quarter 2026 sales of $34.33 billion and net income of $2.09 billion, while earnings per unit exceeded expectations. The partnership also raised its quarterly cash distribution to $0.34 per common unit, reinforcing its income appeal. Did Strong Q2 Results and a Higher Payout Just Shift Energy Transfer’s Investment Narrative? Positive Sentiment: Growth outlook remains constructive: Analysts point to rising NGL exports, high pipeline and fractionator utilization, multi-year export commitments, and an accelerated capital-spending program as drivers of future EBITDA and distribution growth. Management continues to target roughly 3%–5% annual distribution growth while maintaining leverage near 4.0–4.5 times EBITDA. Energy Transfer Is Now Finally Firing on All Growth Cylinders Positive Sentiment: Value and income appeal: Zacks identified ET as a highly ranked value stock, while other coverage emphasized its approximately 6.6% distribution yield and improving profits. The combination of valuation support, cash income, and recent earnings beats could attract yield-focused investors. Energy Transfer Is a Top-Ranked Value Stock Negative Sentiment: Natural-gas market weakness: Natural-gas futures fell after a larger-than-expected storage build. Lower commodity prices can weigh on sentiment toward energy companies, although Energy Transfer’s fee-based pipeline, storage, and NGL businesses help reduce its direct exposure to gas-price volatility. Nat-Gas Prices Tumble on a Larger-Than-Expected Storage Build Energy Transfer Company Profile (Free Report)
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.
See Also Five stocks we like better than Energy Transfer Datadog’s Drop Says More About Expectations Than Earnings D-Wave’s Quantum Breakthrough Couldn’t Save QBTS From a Sell-Off Cloudflare’s Beat-and-Raise Quarter Puts Its AI Edge Story in Focus Solventum Nears Inflection Point As It Begins to Unlock Value Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ET? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET – Free Report).
Receive News & Ratings for Energy Transfer Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Energy Transfer and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
« PREVIOUS HEADLINEAtwood & Palmer Inc. Sells 5,302 Shares of Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF $RSP
NEXT HEADLINE »Comparing Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) & Many Bright Ideas Technologies (OTCMKTS:MBGNF)
Douglas Elliman Inc. (“Douglas Elliman” or the “Company”) (NYSE: DOUG), the parent company of Douglas Elliman Realty, one of the nation's premier luxury residential real estate brokerages, today announced financial results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2026.
CEO STATEMENT
“Our second quarter top and bottom-line results reflect strong and building momentum: revenue grew 8.6% year over year on a comparable basis and cash receipts from existing home sales were up 15% and 16% in May and June, respectively, compared to the prior year periods,” said Michael S. Liebowitz, President and Chief Executive Officer of Douglas Elliman Inc. "With no long-term debt and more than $100 million in cash, we are operating from a position of financial strength. We made excellent progress during the quarter on the strategic initiatives that will define Douglas Elliman's future — technology, talent, capital, and geography. Through our AI transformation we are actively seeking to reshape our cost structure with a dedicated AI team already on the ground. We believe this transformation will be a meaningful driver of margin improvement over time. Our team is energized and laser-focused on creating value for all of our stakeholders.”
Q2 2026 FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
Three months ended June 30, 2026
Second quarter 2026 revenues were $283.4 million, compared to revenues of $271.4 million in the second quarter of 2025. The Company disposed of its property management business in October 2025 and, excluding property management revenues, revenues were $260.9 million in the second quarter of 2025. The Company recorded an operating loss of $3.4 million in the second quarter of 2026, compared to an operating loss of $5.5 million in the second quarter of 2025. Net loss attributed to Douglas Elliman Inc. in the second quarter of 2026 was $2.7 million, or $0.03 per diluted common share, compared to $22.7 million, or $0.27 per diluted common share, in the second quarter of 2025.
Six months ended June 30, 2026
For the six months ended June 30, 2026, revenues were $497.8 million, compared to revenues of $524.8 million for the six months ended June 30, 2025. Excluding property management revenues, revenues were $504.8 million for the six months ended June 30, 2025. Although the Company had a strong revenue performance in the second quarter of 2026, the year-over-year comparison of revenues was also impacted by a difficult comparable due to an unusually strong first quarter of 2025. The Company recorded an operating loss of $20.9 million for the six months ended June 30, 2026, compared to an operating loss of $10.9 million for the six months ended June 30, 2025. Net loss attributed to Douglas Elliman Inc. for the six months ended June 30, 2026 was $19.0 million, or $0.22 per diluted common share, compared to $28.7 million, or $0.34 per diluted common share, for the six months ended June 30, 2025.
NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES
Reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025 are included in Tables 2 and 3, and for the last twelve months (“LTM”) ended June 30, 2026 and year ended December 31, 2025 are included in Table 2.
Three months ended June 30, 2026 compared to the three months ended June 30, 2025
Adjusted EBITDA attributed to Douglas Elliman Inc. (as described in Table 2 attached hereto) was a loss of $1.0 million for the second quarter of 2026, compared to a loss of $3.6 million for the second quarter of 2025.
Adjusted Net Loss attributed to Douglas Elliman Inc. (as described in Table 3 attached hereto) was $3.9 million or $0.05 per diluted share, for the second quarter of 2026, compared to $7.3 million or $0.09 per diluted share, for the second quarter of 2025.
Six months ended June 30, 2026 compared to the six months ended June 30, 2025
Adjusted EBITDA attributed to Douglas Elliman Inc. (as described in Table 2 attached hereto) was a loss of $11.4 million for the six months ended June 30, 2026, compared to a loss of $4.5 million for the six months ended June 30, 2025.
Adjusted Net Loss attributed to Douglas Elliman Inc. (as described in Table 3 attached hereto) was $16.3 million or $0.19 per diluted share, for the six months ended June 30, 2026, compared to $11.6 million or $0.14 per diluted share, for the six months ended June 30, 2025.
GROSS TRANSACTION VALUE
For the second quarter of 2026, the Company achieved gross transaction value of approximately $10.8 billion with an average price per transaction of $1.86 million. For the second quarter of 2025, the Company achieved gross transaction value of approximately $10.2 billion with an average price per transaction of $1.84 million.
For the six months ended June 30, 2026, the Company achieved gross transaction value of approximately $19.4 billion with an average price per transaction of $1.90 million. For the six months ended June 30, 2025, the Company achieved gross transaction value of approximately $20.1 billion with an average price per transaction of $1.92 million.
BALANCE SHEET AND CAPITAL POSITION
Douglas Elliman maintained a robust balance sheet as of June 30, 2026, with cash and cash equivalents of approximately $105.2 million and no long-term debt. This financial profile affords the Company significant strategic flexibility to pursue organic growth, accretive talent acquisition, technology investment, and opportunistic market expansion initiatives.
OUTLOOK
The Company enters the second half of 2026 with a strengthened foundation: a strong capital position, a development marketing pipeline of approximately $26.1 billion (including $18.9 billion in Florida alone) with another $9.7 billion scheduled to come to market through September 30, 2027 and an AI transformation that is underway and that is expected to gradually lead to significant savings in non-commission operating expenses over the next three years.
Douglas Elliman remains focused on maintaining leadership in luxury residential real estate through superior agent talent, global market presence, and a brand that commands the industry's highest average sales price. Management is executing against this objective with discipline and believes the platform is now well positioned to deliver long-term stockholder value.
STRATEGIC GROWTH INITIATIVES
Douglas Elliman sees opportunities to extend the Company's luxury leadership and accelerate long-term stockholder value creation.
Technology and AI Investment
Douglas Elliman recently announced the launch of a company-wide technology infrastructure transformation to support its evolution into a technology-forward real estate brokerage. The effort is designed to fundamentally change how Douglas Elliman operates to improve efficiency, enhance the agent advisor and client experience, and reshape its long-term cost structure.
Concurrently, the Company is launching Elius, a newly formed intelligence company positioned to build proprietary real estate intelligence capabilities beyond traditional brokerage. Elius is designed to power a new generation of intelligent real estate experiences, products, and services that move beyond today's search and portal-based models by anticipating opportunities, surfacing insights earlier, and delivering guidance that today's static platforms cannot.
The transformation follows two parallel tracks to reset Douglas Elliman's non-commission-based cost structure across business units while building a proprietary intelligence business under the name Elius. Both tracks are enabled by Google Cloud technology, including its AI models and enterprise infrastructure, which the Company has selected to power its transformation.
Footprint Expansion and Talent Recruitment
Since 2025, Douglas Elliman entered new international markets in Canada, France, Monaco, and the Caribbean, extending the Company's geographic reach to serve affluent and ultra-high-net-worth clients across the world's most coveted luxury real estate destinations. Most recently, in June, the Company expanded into Paris, bringing its French network to fifteen offices across France, Monaco, and Saint-Barthélemy.
In addition, Douglas Elliman continues to extend its domestic footprint across several luxury markets. In the second quarter, the Company expanded into New Hampshire and opened a new Georgetown office — its fourth in the Mid-Atlantic region. The Company also added high level agents in key markets during the quarter and continues to have a strong recruiting pipeline.
Elliman Capital
Elliman Capital continued to expand in the second quarter. In May, the Company launched in California through a strategic relationship with Mark Cohen and Cohen Financial Group, bringing a full suite of lending solutions to agents and clients across Greater Los Angeles. In July, the platform extended into Texas, with dedicated loan officers serving agents across Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and Austin.
Conference Call to Discuss Second Quarter 2026 Results
As previously announced, the Company will host a conference call and webcast to discuss its second quarter 2026 results on Friday, August 7, 2026 at 8:00 a.m. (ET).
Investors may access the call via live webcast at https://join.eventcastplus.com/eventcastplus/douglas-elliman-second-quarter-earnings-call. Please join the webcast at least 10 minutes prior to the start time.
A replay of the call will be available shortly after the call ends on August 7, 2026 through August 21, 2026 at https://join.eventcastplus.com/eventcastplus/douglas-elliman-second-quarter-earnings-call.
NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES
Adjusted EBITDA attributed to Douglas Elliman Inc., Adjusted Net Loss attributed to Douglas Elliman Inc. and financial measures for the last twelve months (“LTM”) ended June 30, 2026 (referred to as the “Non-GAAP Financial Measures”) are financial measures not prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”). The Company believes that the Non-GAAP Financial Measures are important measures that supplement discussion and analysis of its results of operations and enhance an understanding of its operating performance.
The Company believes the Non-GAAP Financial Measures provide investors and analysts with a useful measure of operating results unaffected by differences in capital structures and ages of related assets among otherwise comparable companies.
Management uses the Non-GAAP Financial Measures as measures to review and assess the operating performance of the Company’s business, and management does, and investors should review both the overall performance (GAAP net income (loss)) and the operating performance (the Non-GAAP Financial Measures) of the Company’s business. While management considers the Non-GAAP Financial Measures to be important, they should be considered in addition to, but not as substitutes for or superior to, other measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP, such as operating income (loss), net income (loss) and cash flows from operations. In addition, the Non-GAAP Financial Measures are susceptible to varying calculations and the Company’s measurement of the Non-GAAP Financial Measures may not be comparable to those of other companies. Attached hereto as Tables 2 and 3 is information relating to the Company’s Non-GAAP Financial Measures for the three and six months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025, the LTM ended June 30, 2026 and the year ended December 31, 2025.
About Douglas Elliman Inc.
Douglas Elliman Inc. (NYSE: DOUG, “Douglas Elliman”) owns Douglas Elliman Realty, LLC, which is one of the largest residential brokerage companies in the United States with operations in New York City, Long Island, the Hamptons, Westchester, Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Florida, California, Texas, Colorado, Nevada, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. In addition, Douglas Elliman provides other real estate services, including development marketing, mortgage as well as settlement and escrow services in select markets, and uses as well as invests in early-stage, disruptive property technology solutions and companies. Additional information concerning Douglas Elliman is available on its website, investors.elliman.com.
Investors and others should note that we may post information about Douglas Elliman on our website at investors.elliman.com or, if applicable, on our accounts on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, X, YouTube or other social media platforms. It is possible that the postings or releases could include information deemed to be material information. Therefore, we encourage investors, the media and others interested in Douglas Elliman to review the information we post on our website at investors.elliman.com and on our social media accounts.
Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements
This press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities law. All statements other than statements of historical or current facts made in this press release are forward-looking. We identify forward-looking statements in this press release by using words or phrases such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may be,” “continue” “could,” “potential,” “objective,” “plan,” “seek,” “predict,” “project” and “will be” and similar words or phrases or their negatives. Forward-looking statements reflect our current expectations and are inherently uncertain. Actual results could differ materially for a variety of reasons.
Risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ significantly from our current expectations are described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025 and, when filed, our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed thereafter. We undertake no responsibility to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement except as required by applicable law.
[Financial Tables Follow]
TABLE 1
DOUGLAS ELLIMAN INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
(Unaudited)
(Dollars in Thousands, Except Per Share Amounts)
Three Months Ended
Six Months Ended
June 30,
June 30,
2026
2025
2026
2025
Revenues:
Commissions and other brokerage income
$
280,203
$
258,016
$
492,084
$
499,159
Property management
—
10,465
—
19,957
Other ancillary services
3,246
2,885
5,698
5,653
Total revenues
283,449
271,366
497,782
524,769
Expenses:
Real estate agent commissions
224,259
204,594
391,650
391,119
Sales and marketing
19,731
20,069
37,468
39,808
Operations and support
17,771
17,775
34,011
35,503
General and administrative
17,795
26,177
38,946
53,502
Technology
5,591
5,766
10,829
11,301
Depreciation and amortization
1,989
2,219
3,988
4,119
Antitrust litigation settlement expense (a)
—
—
2,041
—
Restructuring
146
298
193
298
Gain on disposal of business
(408
)
—
(408
)
—
Operating loss
(3,425
)
(5,532
)
(20,936
)
(10,881
)
Other income (expenses):
Interest expense
(2
)
(1,545
)
(5
)
(3,075
)
Interest income
719
1,259
1,609
2,620
Equity in (losses) earnings from equity-method investments
(9
)
199
379
201
Change in fair value of the derivative embedded within convertible debt
—
(16,969
)
—
(17,715
)
Investment and other losses
(17
)
(37
)
(57
)
(59
)
Loss before provision for income taxes
(2,734
)
(22,625
)
(19,010
)
(28,909
)
Income tax expense
—
—
—
—
Net loss
(2,734
)
(22,625
)
(19,010
)
(28,909
)
Net (income) loss attributed to non-controlling interest
—
(48
)
—
251
Net loss attributed to Douglas Elliman Inc.
$
(2,734
)
$
(22,673
)
$
(19,010
)
$
(28,658
)
Per basic common share:
Net loss applicable to common shares attributed to Douglas Elliman Inc.
$
(0.03
)
$
(0.27
)
$
(0.22
)
$
(0.34
)
Per diluted common share:
Net loss applicable to common shares attributed to Douglas Elliman Inc.
$
(0.03
)
$
(0.27
)
$
(0.22
)
$
(0.34
)
Represents an expense of $2,041 associated with an antitrust lawsuit settlement which was recorded during the three months ended March 31, 2026 and included in the “General and Administrative” category on the condensed consolidated statement of operations in for the period ended March 31, 2026. For the six months ended June 30, 2026, the Company has reclassified such expense as “Antitrust litigation settlement expense.”TABLE 2
DOUGLAS ELLIMAN INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
RECONCILIATION OF ADJUSTED EBITDA
(Unaudited)
(Dollars in Thousands)
LTM
Year Ended
Three Months Ended
Six Months Ended
June 30,
December 31,
June 30,
June 30,
2026
2025
2026
2025
2026
2025
Net income (loss) attributed to Douglas Elliman Inc.
$
24,867
$
15,219
$
(2,734
)
$
(22,673
)
$
(19,010
)
$
(28,658
)
Interest expense
1,999
5,069
2
1,545
5
3,075
Interest income
(3,889
)
(4,900
)
(719
)
(1,259
)
(1,609
)
(2,620
)
Income tax expense
3,560
3,560
—
—
—
—
Net (loss) income attributed to non-controlling interest
(658
)
(909
)
—
48
—
(251
)
Depreciation and amortization
8,246
8,377
1,989
2,219
3,988
4,119
EBITDA
$
34,125
$
26,416
$
(1,462
)
$
(20,120
)
$
(16,626
)
$
(24,335
)
Results from operations of disposed business (a)
(1,897
)
(6,621
)
—
(2,709
)
—
(4,724
)
Gain on disposal of business
(82,063
)
(81,655
)
(408
)
—
(408
)
—
Equity in (earnings) losses from equity-method investments (b)
(365
)
(187
)
9
(199
)
(379
)
(201
)
Change in fair value of the derivative embedded within convertible debt
10,767
28,482
—
16,969
—
17,715
Loss on extinguishment of liability
466
466
—
—
—
—
Stock-based compensation(c)
7,240
8,577
1,654
2,124
2,822
4,159
Litigation, settlement and related expenses (benefit), net (d)
7,588
7,637
(942
)
1,060
2,909
2,958
Executive severance and separation expense (benefit)(e)
194
(299
)
—
(903
)
—
(493
)
Impairment of fixed assets
2,275
2,275
—
—
—
—
Restructuring
1,531
1,636
146
298
193
298
Investment and other (gains) losses
(1,320
)
(1,318
)
17
37
57
59
Adjusted EBITDA
(21,459
)
(14,591
)
(986
)
(3,443
)
(11,432
)
(4,564
)
Adjusted EBITDA attributed to non-controlling interest
502
601
—
(115
)
—
99
Adjusted EBITDA attributed to Douglas Elliman Inc.
$
(20,957
)
$
(13,990
)
$
(986
)
$
(3,558
)
$
(11,432
)
$
(4,465
)
a. Represents results from operations of Residential Management Group, LLC, which conducts business as Douglas Elliman Property Management (“DEPM”), which was disposed on October 24, 2025. This adjustment also includes the corporate allocation to Douglas Elliman Realty, LLC (“DER”) from DEPM. The expenses associated with the corporate allocation to DEPM have continued at DER after the disposal.b. Represents equity in (earnings) loss recognized from the Company’s investments in equity method investments that are accounted for under the equity method and are not consolidated in the Company’s financial results.c. Represents amortization of stock-based compensation.d. Represents unusual litigation, settlement and related expenses, net, incurred in connection with industry-wide antitrust class action lawsuits and other matters related to employees and agents. For the year ended December 31, 2025, the Company incurred such expenses of $7,637, net of amounts recovered from insurance, which were included in general and administrative expenses in the consolidated statement of operations. For the three months ended June 30, 2026, the Company incurred a benefit of $942, net of amounts recovered from insurance, which is included in general and administrative expenses in the condensed consolidated statements of operations. For the three months ended June 30, 2025, the Company incurred such expenses of $1,060 which were included in general and administrative expenses in the condensed consolidated statements of operations. For the six months ended June 30, 2026, we incurred such expenses of $2,909, net of amounts recovered from insurance, of which $2,041 is included in Antitrust litigation settlement expense and $868 is included in general and administrative expenses in the condensed consolidated statements of operations. For the six months ended June 30, 2025, we incurred such expenses of $2,958, which were included in general and administrative expenses in the condensed consolidated statements of operations.e. Represents executive severance and separation expenses, net of amounts recovered from insurance. All amounts are included within general and administrative expenses on the condensed consolidated statement of operations.TABLE 3
DOUGLAS ELLIMAN INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
RECONCILIATION OF ADJUSTED NET LOSS
(Unaudited)
(Dollars in Thousands, Except Per Share Amounts)
Three Months Ended
Six Months Ended
June 30,
June 30,
2026
2025
2026
2025
Net loss attributed to Douglas Elliman Inc.
$
(2,734
)
$
(22,673
)
$
(19,010
)
$
(28,658
)
Results from operations of disposed business (a)
—
(2,598
)
—
(4,493
)
Gain on disposal of business
(408
)
—
(408
)
—
Restructuring
146
298
193
298
Change in fair value of the derivative embedded within convertible debt
—
16,969
—
17,715
Non-cash amortization of debt discount on convertible debt
—
548
—
1,082
Executive severance and separation benefit
—
(903
)
—
(493
)
Litigation, settlement and related (benefit) expenses, net
(942
)
1,060
2,909
2,958
Total adjustments
(1,204
)
15,374
2,694
17,067
Adjusted net loss attributed to Douglas Elliman Inc.
$
(3,938
)
$
(7,299
)
$
(16,316
)
$
(11,591
)
Per diluted common share:
Adjusted net loss applicable to common shares attributed to Douglas Elliman Inc.
$
(0.05
)
$
(0.09
)
$
(0.19
)
$
(0.14
)
a. Represents results from operations of Residential Management Group, LLC, which conducts business as DEPM, which was disposed on October 24, 2025. This adjustment also includes the corporate allocation to DER from DEPM. The expenses associated with the corporate allocation to DEPM have continued at DER after the disposal.TABLE 4
DOUGLAS ELLIMAN INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
KEY BUSINESS METRICS
(Unaudited)
(Dollars in Thousands, Except for Gross Transaction Value)
LTM
Year Ended
Three Months Ended
Six Months Ended
June 30,
December 31,
June 30,
June 30,
2026
2025
2026
2025
2026
2025
Revenues:
Commissions and other brokerage income
$
982,767
$
989,842
$
280,203
$
258,016
$
492,084
$
499,159
Property management
11,635
31,592
—
10,465
—
19,957
Other ancillary services
11,666
11,621
3,246
2,885
5,698
5,653
Total revenues
$
1,006,068
$
1,033,055
$
283,449
$
271,366
$
497,782
$
524,769
Gross transaction value (in billions)
$
39.1
$
39.8
$
10.8
$
10.2
$
19.4
$
20.1
Total transactions
21,078
21,338
5,785
5,530
10,178
10,438
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260806877876/en/
Taking full advantage of the stock market and investing with confidence are common goals for new and old investors, and Zacks Premium offers many different ways to do both.
The popular research service can help you become a smarter, more self-assured investor, giving you access to daily updates of the Zacks Rank and Zacks Industry Rank, the Zacks #1 Rank List, Equity Research reports, and Premium stock screens.
It also includes access to the Zacks Style Scores.
What are the Zacks Style Scores? The Zacks Style Scores is a unique set of guidelines that rates stocks based on three popular investing types, and were developed as complementary indicators for the Zacks Rank. This combination helps investors choose securities with the highest chances of beating the market over the next 30 days.
Based on their value, growth, and momentum characteristics, each stock is assigned a rating of A, B, C, D, or F. The better the score, the better chance the stock will outperform; an A is better than a B, a B is better than a C, and so on.
The Style Scores are broken down into four categories:
Value ScoreFinding good stocks at good prices, and discovering which companies are trading under their true value, are what value investors like to focus on. So, the Value Style Score takes into account ratios like P/E, PEG, Price/Sales, Price/Cash Flow, and a host of other multiples to highlight the most attractive and discounted stocks.
Growth ScoreGrowth investors, on the other hand, are more concerned with a company's financial strength and health, and its future outlook. The Growth Style Score examines things like projected and historic earnings, sales, and cash flow to find stocks that will experience sustainable growth over time.
Momentum ScoreMomentum investors, who live by the saying "the trend is your friend," are most interested in taking advantage of upward or downward trends in a stock's price or earnings outlook. Utilizing one-week price change and the monthly percentage change in earnings estimates, among other factors, the Momentum Style Score can help determine favorable times to buy high-momentum stocks.
VGM ScoreIf you like to use all three kinds of investing, then the VGM Score is for you. It's a combination of all Style Scores, and is an important indicator to use with the Zacks Rank. The VGM Score rates each stock on their shared weighted styles, narrowing down the companies with the most attractive value, best growth forecast, and most promising momentum.
How Style Scores Work with the Zacks Rank The Zacks Rank, which is a proprietary stock-rating model, employs earnings estimate revisions, or changes to a company's earnings expectations, to make building a winning portfolio easier.
It's highly successful, with #1 (Strong Buy) stocks producing an unmatched +23.94% average annual return since 1988. That's more than double the S&P 500. But because of the large number of stocks we rate, there are over 200 companies with a Strong Buy rank, plus another 600 with a #2 (Buy) rank, on any given day.
This totals more than 800 top-rated stocks, and it can be overwhelming to try and pick the best stocks for you and your portfolio.
That's where the Style Scores come in.
To have the best chance of big returns, you'll want to always consider stocks with a Zacks Rank #1 or #2 that also have Style Scores of A or B, which will give you the highest probability of success. If you're looking at stocks with a #3 (Hold) rank, it's important they have Scores of A or B as well to ensure as much upside potential as possible.
As mentioned above, the Scores are designed to work with the Zacks Rank, so any change to a company's earnings outlook should be a deciding factor when picking which stocks to buy.
Here's an example: a stock with a #4 (Sell) or #5 (Strong Sell) rating, even one with Style Scores of A and B, still has a downward-trending earnings outlook, and a bigger chance its share price will decrease too.
Thus, the more stocks you own with a #1 or #2 Rank and Scores of A or B, the better.
Stock to Watch: Energy Transfer LP (ET - Free Report) Energy Transfer LP is a diversified midstream partnership with operations spanning natural gas, NGLs, crude oil, refined products, terminalling, storage, and related services in the United States. Its asset base includes a large network of pipelines and associated infrastructure across many states, supported by gathering, processing, fractionation, and logistics capabilities. The partnership also owns interests in other businesses, including Sunoco LP and USA Compression Partners, LP.
ET is a #3 (Hold) on the Zacks Rank, with a VGM Score of A.
It also boasts a Value Style Score of A thanks to attractive valuation metrics like a forward P/E ratio of 13.6; value investors should take notice.
For fiscal 2026, three analysts revised their earnings estimate upwards in the last 60 days, and the Zacks Consensus Estimate has increased $0.09 to $1.52 per share. ET boasts an average earnings surprise of +0.4%.
With a solid Zacks Rank and top-tier Value and VGM Style Scores, ET should be on investors' short list.
Northern Trust Corporation announced today that Chief Financial Officer Dave Fox and President of Wealth Management Jason Tyler will participate in the Barclays
Energy Transfer continues to outperform, driven by robust NGL export growth, high utilization rates, and durable volume-driven opportunities. The growth expansion plans are now playing out. ET's multi-year export capacity commitments, full pipeline and fractionator utilization, and accelerated CapEx cycle underpin long-term EBITDA and distribution growth visibility. Management maintains confidence in sustaining 3–5% annual distribution growth and 4–4.5x EBITDA leverage, despite elevated CapEx peaking this year.
As a huge energy arbitrageur, Energy Transfer (ET +0.05%) is one of the best companies in the world at benefiting from energy market volatility. That showed up when the master limited partnership (MLP) reported its Q2 results and once again raised its full-year forecast. The stock is now up about 25% on the year.
Let's dig into the midstream company's results and why the stock still looks like a buy.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
Strong growth ahead In my view, Energy Transfer is one of the most attractive high-yield stocks in the market today. It currently sports a 6.7% yield and intends to raise its distribution by 3% to 5% annually. It has one of the lowest valuations in the midstream MLP segment and some of the best growth opportunities.
Energy Transfer's growth opportunities stem from its robust project backlog. It plans to spend between $5.6 billion and $5.9 billion in growth capital expenditures (capex) this year, with a focus on natural gas infrastructure. That's a significant increase from the $4.5 billion on capex it spent in 2025. These projects are all supported by long-term contracts and are expected to generate mid-teen returns.
Meanwhile, Phase 1 of its Hugh Brinson Pipeline is now in service, earlier than expected, with full capacity anticipated by Sept. 1. Phase 2 is set to come online in Q1 of next year. This is one of Energy Transfer's most important projects, linking natural gas from the West Texas Permian Basin to access points throughout Texas and connecting it with its other pipelines to reach additional states. It will contribute to growth this year and become a bigger contributor in 2027.
Turning to Energy Transfer's Q2 results, its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) soared by 31% year over year to $5.07 billion. It saw strength across its five segments, led by its NGL (natural gas liquids) and refined products segment, where adjusted EBITDA climbed 30% to $1.3 billion. This was driven by record exports from the Nederland and Marcus Hook terminals, higher NGL premiums, and better margins from its product optimization and blending operations.
Distributable cash flow to partners, which is operating cash flow minus maintenance capex, climbed 32% to $2.59 billion, up from $1.96 billion a year ago. It paid out $1.17 billion in distributions in the quarter, good for a coverage ratio of 2.2 times, demonstrating that its current distribution appears secure.
The company also once again significantly increased its full-year EBITDA forecast, taking it to a range of $18.8 billion to $19.1 billion. That's up from an earlier projection of $18.2 billion to $18.6 billion and well above its original forecast of $17.3 billion to $17.7 billion. It said additional upside to its forecast will depend on the duration and impact of current market disruptions.
Today's Change
(
0.05
%) $
0.01
Current Price
$
20.34
Still a top high-yield stock to buy Energy Transfer is one of the best combinations of growth and income stocks in the market today. Although some of its outperformance is driven by energy market volatility, the company has always been great at profiting from it, whether due to war, weather, regional or product differentials, or anything else. These opportunities are not always there, but they also are not infrequent.
At the same time, the company has a very robust, high-return project pipeline. Based on its comments, the company's capex this year alone could add more than $900 million in EBITDA once these projects are all up and running. They will come on at different times, but this should be a nice growth driver in the years ahead.
Energy Transfer is also one of the most attractively valued midstream MLPs, trading at a forward enterprise value-to-EBITDA multiple of just 8.5 times. That is a big discount to other MLPs like Plains All American Partners and MPLX , which both trade at more than 11.5 times, and Enterprise Products Partners, which trades at 10.5 times.
As the cheapest midstream MLP with some of the best growth prospects, Energy Transfer is a top stock to own.
Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of et, EPD either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
It’s likely a good bet that the Federal Reserve will raise the federal funds rate by 25 basis points (1/4 of 1%) in September. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh sparked a rift among the Federal Reserve Governors when rates were held steady last month. Three of the governors dissented and wanted to raise rates then. If the Consumer Price Index and the Producer Price Index for July come in hot next week, that will almost guarantee a rate hike. While the bond market will not be thrilled, owners of high-yielding energy stocks may fare better, as they yield more than government bonds and have upside potential, especially as power demand rises amid the acceleration of data center computing.
In fact, RBC Capital says that:
Natural gas demand from U.S. data centers is projected to rise significantly, increasing consumption by 3 to 6.1 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) by 2030, representing up to a 20% increase in annual average power-sector burn. Developers have announced roughly 101 gigawatts of on-site (behind-the-meter) natural gas power capacity to bypass congested grid interconnections. Natural Gas Intelligence says that national power-sector usage could rise by up to 15%, with summer power-sector demand tracking toward 45 Bcf/d by 2027. By 2028, this is projected to equal 12% of total U.S. electricity demand (potentially reaching 580 TWh), with heavy reliance on gas-fired generation to supply reliable 24/7 baseload power.
The way to play this from a total-return angle is to focus on midstream companies that transport and store natural gas and oil. Four of our favorite companies, each yielding 6% to 7% or more, are attractively priced for investors seeking natural gas exposure from a growth and income perspective. All four are rated Buy at the top Wall Street firms we cover.
Why Do We Cover the High-Yielding Energy Dividend Stocks?
Since 1926, dividends have accounted for approximately 32% of the S&P 500’s total return, while capital appreciation has accounted for 68%. Therefore, sustainable dividend income and the potential for capital appreciation are essential to total return expectations. A study by Hartford Funds, in collaboration with Ned Davis Research, found that dividend stocks delivered an annualized return of 9.18% over the past 50 years (1973 to 2023). Over the same timeline, this was more than double the annualized return for non-payers (3.95%).
Energy Transfer Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET | ET Price Prediction) is one of North America’s largest and most diversified midstream energy companies. This top master limited partnership is a safe option for investors seeking energy exposure and income, as the company pays a 6.71% distribution yield. Energy Transfer owns and operates one of the largest and most diversified portfolios of energy assets in the United States, with a strategic footprint across all major domestic production basins. The company exceeded second-quarter earnings expectations and appears poised to reach new highs.
The company is a publicly traded limited partnership with core operations that include:
Complementary natural gas midstream, intrastate, and interstate transportation and storage assets Crude oil, natural gas liquids (NGL), and refined product transportation and terminalling assets NGL fractionation Various acquisition and marketing assets Following the acquisition of Enable Partners in December 2021, Energy Transfer owns and operates over 114,000 miles of pipelines and related assets in 41 states, spanning all major U.S. producing regions and markets. This solidifies its leadership position in the midstream sector.
Through its ownership of Energy Transfer Operating, formerly known as Energy Transfer Partners, the company also owns Lake Charles LNG; the general partner interests, the incentive distribution rights, and 28.5 million standard units of Sunoco (NYSE:SUN); and the public partner interests and 39.7 million common units of USA Compression Partners (NYSE:USAC).
TD Cowen has a Buy rating on the shares, with a $24 target price.
MPLX MPLX (NYSE:MPLX) is a diversified, large-cap master limited partnership formed by Marathon Petroleum. This company is one of the top holdings in the Alerian MLP Energy exchange-traded fund and pays a healthy 7.16% dividend. The company is primarily engaged in transporting crude oil and refined products, with terminals in the U.S. Midwest and Gulf Coast regions, and in natural gas gathering and processing in the Northeast, following its 2015 acquisition of MarkWest Energy.
The company’s assets include:
Network of crude oil and refined product pipelines Inland marine business Light-product terminals Storage caverns Refinery tanks Docks Loading racks and associated piping Crude and light-product marine terminals MPLX also owns crude oil and natural gas gathering systems, as well as pipelines, natural gas, and NGL processing and fractionation facilities in key U.S. supply basins.
Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Energy Transfer didn't make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.
Royal Bank of Canada has an Outperform rating and a $60 target price.
Plains All American Pipeline This stock traded in a tight range before breaking out, and it offers a dependable 6.43% dividend yield. Plains All American Pipeline (NASDAQ:PAA), through its subsidiaries, engages in the pipeline transportation, terminalling, storage, and gathering of crude oil and NGL in the United States and Canada.
The company operates in two segments. The Crude Oil segment offers:
Gathering and transporting crude oil through pipelines Gathering systems Trucks, barges, or railcars Terminalling, storage, and other facilities-related services and merchant activities The Natural Gas Liquids segment provides:
Gathering Fractionation Storage Transportation Terminalling activities Ethane, propane, normal butane, iso-butane, natural gasoline, and crude oil refining processes Mizuho has an Outperform rating with a $27 target price.
Western Midstream Partners While somewhat off the radar, this is the highest-yielding stock in the group, with a 7.86% dividend yield, and it offers an outstanding entry point. Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) acquires, owns, develops, and operates midstream assets.
The company is engaged in the business of gathering, compressing, treating, processing, and transporting natural gas, as well as gathering, stabilizing, and transporting condensate, NGL, and crude oil. Additionally, the company collects and disposes of produced water.
The midstream assets are located in:
Texas New Mexico Colorado Utah Wyoming In addition, as a natural gas processor, the company also buys and sells natural gas, NGL, and condensate on its own behalf and as an agent for its customers under specific contracts. The company’s subsidiaries include:
Western Midstream Operating GP Western Midstream Services Western Midstream Services Holdings Western Midstream Operating Mizuho has an Outperform rating and a $51 target price.
Consider This Exchange-Traded Fund Investors receive a K-1 from energy MLPs. Those looking to avoid it can always purchase shares in the ALPS Alerian MLP ETF (NYSE:AMLP), which pays a substantial 7.86% dividend. Those investors receive a 1099 instead of a K-1.
Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Energy Transfer didn't make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.
AI Data Centers Need Power, and These 2 Industrials Are Cashing InEnergy Transfer NYSE: ET reported second-quarter adjusted EBITDA of approximately $5.1 billion, up from about $3.9 billion a year earlier, supported by record gathering, NGL transportation and export, and crude oil transportation volumes. Distributable cash flow attributable to partners, as adjusted, rose to roughly $2.6 billion from $2.0 billion in the second quarter of 2025.
Co-CEO Thomas E. Long said the company raised its 2026 adjusted EBITDA guidance to a range of $18.8 billion to $19.1 billion, representing an increase of about $500 million at the midpoint from the prior outlook. Energy Transfer now expects 2026 organic growth capital expenditures of $5.6 billion to $5.9 billion, excluding SUN and USA Compression capital spending.
Get Energy Transfer alerts:
3 Overlooked Energy ETFs Delivering Strong Returns and IncomeLong said the company spent approximately $2.6 billion on organic growth projects during the first half of 2026 across its intrastate, midstream, NGL and refined products, and interstate segments. He said most of its growth projects are supported by long-term contracts and are expected to generate mid-teen returns.
Segment results reflect volumes and market conditions The NGL and refined products segment generated approximately $1.3 billion of adjusted EBITDA, compared with about $1.0 billion in the prior-year period. The increase included record exports from the Nederland and Marcus Hook terminals, record throughput on NGL pipelines and at Mont Belvieu fractionators, and higher NGL sales premiums and product optimization margins.
Analysts See Major Upside for These 5 StocksLong said segment results included a $212 million benefit from higher premiums on NGL sales for export and domestic supply, as well as increased optimization and blending margins. Results also included gains from NGL and refined-products inventory hedges, $27 million of which the company expects to be offset during the fourth quarter.
Midstream adjusted EBITDA increased to approximately $884 million from $768 million a year earlier, aided by record Permian Basin volumes. Permian volumes rose 5% as new processing capacity entered service and plant utilization improved. The segment also benefited by about $88 million from higher NGL prices.
Crude oil segment adjusted EBITDA rose to approximately $834 million from $732 million, driven by growth across pipelines, terminals and gathering systems. Favorable market conditions, including pipeline and export arbitrage, higher crude prices and Strategic Petroleum Reserve activity at Nederland, contributed approximately $106 million.
Intrastate natural gas adjusted EBITDA increased to approximately $377 million from $284 million, primarily due to wider basis differentials and early commissioning volumes on the Hugh Brinson Pipeline. Interstate natural gas adjusted EBITDA increased to approximately $481 million from $470 million, reflecting higher parking, storage and liquids revenue along with increased contracted volumes and utilization on Panhandle Eastern, Transwestern and Florida Gas Transmission.
Management sees further growth from project ramp-ups Group CFO Dylan Bramhall said the company expects its base business to remain strong during the second half, with volumes growing across segments and several new projects contributing. He said the revised guidance does not assume a continuation of the market volatility, wider spreads and higher commodity prices seen during the first half.
“The more of this that continues to play out,” Bramhall said, “with some of this volatility, we can very easily achieve that high end of the guidance range.”
Energy Transfer said the Hugh Brinson Pipeline is in commercial service and is expected to be capable of flowing its full phase I capacity of 1.5 billion cubic feet per day by Sept. 1, subject to continuing commissioning progress. Shipper contracts are coming online in stages, with the majority of phase I contract volumes expected to be active by Jan. 1.
Phase II of Hugh Brinson, which includes downstream compression, remains targeted for the first quarter of 2027 and is expected to come in under budget. The company also completed a 14-mile lateral from the pipeline in Abilene, Texas, and entered an agreement with Crusoe to build facilities serving a previously announced 900-megawatt expansion at the AI Factory campus in Abilene.
Co-CEO Mackie McCrea said the pipeline’s startup has helped ease constraints at the Waha trading hub and could allow producers to bring on pent-up gas, oil and NGL volumes. He said Energy Transfer can transport Permian gas to markets including Phoenix, South Texas, Dallas-Fort Worth, East Texas, the Houston Ship Channel and Florida.
Natural gas, Permian and export projects advance Energy Transfer said its Desert Southwest Pipeline project is progressing through stakeholder outreach and scoping activities in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. McCrea said the company is ahead of its expectations on survey permissions and project development and continues to target service in the latter part of 2029.
The company’s Springerville Lateral, a roughly 120-mile extension of the Transwestern Pipeline, remains expected to enter service in the fourth quarter of 2029. The 30-inch line is designed for capacity of approximately 625 million cubic feet per day and is intended to serve power generation expected to replace two coal-fired plants.
In Oklahoma, Energy Transfer said one of four planned connections for new power plant loads entered service earlier this year, two more are ready for service, and the last is expected online in the fourth quarter of 2028. Together, the connections are expected to provide approximately 300 million cubic feet per day of demand growth. The company is also finalizing negotiations to serve about 250 million cubic feet per day of additional Oklahoma power plant demand.
On the Permian processing front, the Mustang Draw I plant entered service in June and is operating near capacity at the company’s Midland Basin processing complex. Mustang Draw II remains scheduled for service in the fourth quarter. Bramhall said the latter project is expected to provide a more meaningful contribution in 2027 because of its late-2026 startup.
Energy Transfer also announced a 240,000-barrel-per-day ethane export expansion at Nederland, along with 55,000 barrels per day of incremental LPG capacity. The project includes an expansion of the Mont Belvieu-to-Nederland pipeline system and two additional NGL docks. Service is expected to begin in stages in 2028, with the docks targeted for mid-2029.
The company said all ethane export capacity has been committed under long-term agreements extending into the 2040s, with 80% of volumes expected to serve Asian markets outside China. Growth capital for the project is expected to be slightly more than $1 billion.
Energy Transfer completed upgrades to its Lone Star Express pipeline during the quarter, adding more than 90,000 barrels per day of Permian NGL takeaway capacity. Its total deliverability into Mont Belvieu now exceeds 1.3 million barrels per day, while its Permian NGL takeaway pipelines are approximately 95% utilized. The company also signed long-term transportation and/or fractionation agreements covering about 300,000 barrels per day on its Y-grade assets into the 2030s.
Long said the company remains focused on project execution and capital discipline, targeting annual distribution growth of 3% to 5% and leverage of four to four-and-a-half times EBITDA.
About Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET)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.
This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected].
Continue following MarketBeat
Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.
Should You Invest $1,000 in Energy Transfer Right Now?Before you consider Energy Transfer, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Energy Transfer wasn't on the list.
While Energy Transfer currently has a Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
The AI boom extends far beyond the biggest tech names. Discover 10 companies supplying the memory, storage, networking, semiconductor manufacturing, and power infrastructure that make AI possible. Learn where the next wave of AI investment opportunities may emerge—and the key risks investors should watch as the global AI buildout accelerates.
Sunoco LP (NYSE: SUN) (âSUNâ or the âPartnershipâ) and SunocoCorp LLC (NYSE: SUNC) ("SUNC") today reported financial and operating results for the quart
Investing is always about weighing risk against reward and finding a balance. Instead of putting $10,000 into one stock, for example, reducing risk could mean spreading that cash across multiple stocks to get the benefits of diversification. For the energy sector, specifically, spreading out investments also helps, as it doesn't lock in risk from just one sector or commodity.
That's why, starting out with $10,000, I'd spread it around throughout investments in Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA +0.21%) (BRKB +0.31%), Enbridge (ENB -0.66%), Energy Transfer (ET -0.39%), Bloom Energy (BE +6.08%), and Oklo (OKLO +6.16%). Here's the breakdown:
Image source: Getty Images.
$3,500 in Berkshire Hathaway Berkshire isn't a pure-play energy company, but with its ties to the energy industry through stock ownership and its own subsidiary, along with its long track record of success, I've included it on this list.
Its first tie to the energy industry is its ownership of $16.6 billion in Chevron and $15.1 billion in Occidental Petroleum. And second, Berkshire runs the subsidiary Berkshire Hathaway Energy, with a collection of businesses engaged in operations ranging from natural gas to hydropower.
Today's Change
(
0.31
%) $
1.60
Current Price
$
513.14
$3,000 in Enbridge Enbridge's all-of-the-above strategy offers different energy sector exposure through its four main businesses: liquids pipelines, natural gas pipelines, gas utilities and storage, and renewable energy.
Enbridge is the most consistent dividend stock on this list, having paid dividends for more than 70 years and increasing its payout for 31 consecutive years. As of this writing, the dividend payout yields a favorable 5%.
Today's Change
(
-0.66
%) $
-0.36
Current Price
$
54.10
$2,500 in Energy Transfer Energy Transfer provides transportation, storage, and terminal services for natural gas, crude oil, and several other energy assets. In total, it has roughly 140,000 miles of pipelines and associated energy infrastructure in 44 states.
The Texas-based company pays a dividend that yields a hefty 6.6%. It did, however, cut its dividend payouts by half in 2020, which is still fresh in the minds of some income-seeking investors, even though the dividend payments have increased since then. While many companies had to adjust their dividend payouts, others, like Enbridge, were still able to keep hiking theirs. Enbridge's consistency in dividend payouts is why I allocated more money to it in this hypothetical portfolio, even though Energy Transfer's dividend payout currently yields more.
$500 each in Bloom and Oklo Bloom and Oklo would be considered the more speculative portion of an overall portfolio, which is why I gave them the lowest allocations.
Today's Change
(
6.08
%) $
12.51
Current Price
$
218.32
Bloom's on-site power generation is proving to be a big hit, with the company reporting in its second-quarter 2026 earnings that revenue surpassed $1 billion for the first time. There could still be plenty of long-term upside ahead for shareholders, but it's also getting more difficult to impress the markets, as Bloom's stock price has been climbing at a blistering pace, up 470% in the last 12 months.
With no commercial operations yet or meaningful revenue generation, Oklo is the most speculative investment on this list. But I included it to provide exposure and balance the risk with the rewards that the nuclear energy market could offer.
Oklo stands out for its business model, in which it's not only involved in fuel fabrication but also plans to sell heat and electricity to businesses and recycle fuel. Plus, it has a deal with Meta Platforms for a reactor it's developing in Ohio, so it does have a customer lined up. It will just take years for Oklo to get its commercial operations up and running.
DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) (“Energy Transfer” or the “Partnership”) today reported financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2026. Energy Transfer reported net income attributable to partners for the three months ended June 30, 2026 of $2.09 billion compared to $1.16 billion for the three months ended June 30, 2025. For the three months ended June 30, 2026, net income per common unit (basic) was $0.59. Adjusted EBITDA for the three months ended June 30, 2026 wa.
In its upcoming report, Energy Transfer LP (ET - Free Report) is predicted by Wall Street analysts to post quarterly earnings of $0.39 per share, reflecting an increase of 21.9% compared to the same period last year. Revenues are forecasted to be $31.09 billion, representing a year-over-year increase of 61.6%.
The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has undergone an upward revision of 2.2% in the past 30 days, bringing it to its present level. This represents how the covering analysts, as a whole, have reassessed their initial estimates during this timeframe.
Before a company announces its earnings, it is essential to take into account any changes made to earnings estimates. This is a valuable factor in predicting the potential reactions of investors toward the stock. Empirical research has consistently shown a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and the short-term price performance of a stock.
While investors typically rely on consensus earnings and revenue estimates to gauge how the business may have fared during the quarter, examining analysts' projections for some of the company's key metrics often helps gain a deeper insight.
Given this perspective, it's time to examine the average forecasts of specific Energy Transfer LP metrics that are routinely monitored and predicted by Wall Street analysts.
Based on the collective assessment of analysts, 'Midstream - Gathered volumes' should arrive at 22052 billion british thermal units per day. The estimate is in contrast to the year-ago figure of 21329 billion british thermal units per day.
According to the collective judgment of analysts, 'Midstream - NGLs produced' should come in at 1,184.63 thousands of barrels of oil per day. The estimate is in contrast to the year-ago figure of 1,181.00 thousands of barrels of oil per day.
Analysts predict that the 'Midstream - Equity NGLs' will reach 64.78 thousands of barrels of oil per day. The estimate is in contrast to the year-ago figure of 64.00 thousands of barrels of oil per day.
Analysts expect 'NGL and Refined Products Transportation and Services - NGL transportation volumes' to come in at 2,472.83 thousands of barrels of oil per day. Compared to the present estimate, the company reported 2,331.00 thousands of barrels of oil per day in the same quarter last year.
The combined assessment of analysts suggests that 'NGL and Refined Products Transportation and Services - Refined products transportation volumes' will likely reach 592.25 thousands of barrels of oil per day. Compared to the present estimate, the company reported 599.00 thousands of barrels of oil per day in the same quarter last year.
The average prediction of analysts places 'NGL and Refined Products Transportation and Services - NGL and refined products terminal volumes' at 1,782.19 thousands of barrels of oil per day. The estimate compares to the year-ago value of 1,553.00 thousands of barrels of oil per day.
The consensus estimate for 'NGL and Refined Products Transportation and Services - NGL fractionation volumes' stands at 1,241.74 thousands of barrels of oil per day. Compared to the current estimate, the company reported 1,150.00 thousands of barrels of oil per day in the same quarter of the previous year.
It is projected by analysts that the 'Adjusted EBITDA- Investment in USAC' will reach $192.43 million. The estimate compares to the year-ago value of $149.00 million.
The consensus among analysts is that 'Adjusted EBITDA- Intrastate transportation and storage' will reach $372.16 million. The estimate compares to the year-ago value of $284.00 million.
Analysts forecast 'Adjusted EBITDA- Interstate transportation and storage' to reach $474.73 million. The estimate is in contrast to the year-ago figure of $470.00 million.
Analysts' assessment points toward 'Adjusted EBITDA- Investment in Sunoco LP' reaching $844.40 million. The estimate compares to the year-ago value of $454.00 million.
The collective assessment of analysts points to an estimated 'Adjusted EBITDA- NGL and refined products transportation and services' of $1.13 billion. Compared to the current estimate, the company reported $1.03 billion in the same quarter of the previous year.
View all Key Company Metrics for Energy Transfer LP here>>>
Over the past month, shares of Energy Transfer LP have returned +5.3% versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +0.2% change. Currently, ET carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), suggesting that its performance may align with the overall market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>> .
The energy sector is a good place to look for reliable income because many of the larger companies have strong cash flow and are shareholder-friendly. Pipeline company Energy Transfer (ET +0.59%) is no exception, consistently boasting one of the more attractive dividends on the market.
As of market close on July 30, Energy Transfer's dividend yield was 6.72%, and even more impressive, it has raised its quarterly dividend (referred to as cash distributions) for the 19th consecutive quarter. It now sits at $0.34 per share quarterly, or $1.36 annually. With a bustling pipeline (no pun intended), the momentum could be picking up steam.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
Energy Transfer has plenty of projects in its pipeline Energy Transfer has around 140,000 miles of energy infrastructure pipeline that transports everything from crude oil to natural gas to natural gas liquids and other refined products. It has a straightforward but lucrative business model: Set up pipelines and infrastructure across the country and charge fees to other energy companies. It's the tollbooth that keeps on giving.
Most of Energy Transfer's contracts are long-term, helping to lock in future revenue and keep cash flow steady. And right now, it has a growing backlog, highlighting a surge in demand. Here are a few notable ones:
Multiple long-term agreements to supply natural gas to three of Oracle's U.S. data centers. 20-year agreement with Entergy Louisiana. 10-year agreement with Fermi America. A roughly 520-mile pipeline supplying natural gas to the southwest U.S. region. Energy Transfer has plenty of growth projects to be excited about, and with AI infrastructure build-outs (such as data centers) requiring significant amounts of energy, it's well-positioned to capitalize. The Oracle deal is an example of this.
With a foundation in place and lucrative deals underway, there's no reason to doubt that Energy Transfer's dividend is stable and that the company will meet its goal of increasing it by 3% to 5% annually.
Today's Change
(
0.59
%) $
0.12
Current Price
$
20.36
One extra step is required at tax time Energy Transfer isn't structured like a typical corporation. It's a master limited partnership (MLP), so it doesn't pay normal corporate taxes. Instead, it passes nearly all of its profits and losses on to its investors, in exchange for favorable tax rates on the remainder. So, instead of investors receiving a standard 1099-DIV form, as with other stocks, Energy Transfer will send you a Schedule K-1 form that shows details about your share(s).
Managing that form will require an extra step when you file your taxes, but many investors find that it's not enough of a hassle to warrant missing out on Energy Transfer's attractive dividend.
Axiom Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET – Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 90,901 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,754,000. Energy Transfer makes up approximately 1.3% of Axiom Investment Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position.
A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 41.6% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 86,310,272 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,423,256,000 after purchasing an additional 25,366,594 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 83,843,087 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,382,573,000 after buying an additional 6,192,066 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 3.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 57,862,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $992,923,000 after buying an additional 1,773,042 shares during the period. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. grew its position in Energy Transfer by 0.3% during the fourth 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 grew its position in 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 buying an additional 1,656,609 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 38.22% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of equities analysts have commented on ET shares. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 target price (up from $23.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Stifel Nicolaus raised 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, May 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Energy Transfer from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $23.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.50.
Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on Energy Transfer
Energy Transfer Stock Performance Shares of NYSE:ET opened at $20.38 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.93. Energy Transfer LP has a 1 year low of $16.18 and a 1 year high of $20.70.
Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $27.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.78 billion. Energy Transfer had a net margin of 4.66% and a return on equity of 9.77%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 32.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.36 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Energy Transfer Increases Dividend The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Investors of record on Friday, August 7th will be paid a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.7%. This is a boost from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 7th. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is 112.50%.
Energy Transfer Profile (Free Report)
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.
Read More Five stocks we like better than Energy Transfer Chevron’s Strong Quarter Shows Why It Still Leads the Energy Sector Amazon’s Earnings Beat Shows Why AWS Is Back at the Center of the Bull Case Apple’s Record Quarter Could Not Outrun Its Guidance Problem McKesson’s Compounding Keeps Adding Up Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ET? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET – Free Report).
Receive News & Ratings for Energy Transfer Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Energy Transfer and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
« PREVIOUS HEADLINECorebridge Financial, Inc. $CRBG Shares Bought by Amundi
NEXT HEADLINE »Avidity Partners Management LP Has $1.21 Million Position in Corcept Therapeutics Incorporated $CORT
MBIA Inc. (NYSE: MBI) will host a webcast and conference call for investors on Friday, August 7 at 8:30 a.m. (ET) to discuss its second quarter 2026 financial re
Analysts on Wall Street project that Energy Transfer LP (ET - Free Report) will announce quarterly earnings of $0.39 per share in its forthcoming report, representing an increase of 21.9% year over year. Revenues are projected to reach $31.09 billion, increasing 61.6% from the same quarter last year.
The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has undergone an upward revision of 2.2% in the past 30 days, bringing it to its present level. This represents how the covering analysts, as a whole, have reassessed their initial estimates during this timeframe.
Ahead of a company's earnings disclosure, it is crucial to give due consideration to changes in earnings estimates. These revisions serve as a noteworthy factor in predicting potential investor reactions to the stock. Numerous empirical studies consistently demonstrate a strong relationship between trends in earnings estimate revision and the short-term price performance of a stock.
While investors usually depend on consensus earnings and revenue estimates to assess the business performance for the quarter, delving into analysts' forecasts for certain key metrics often provides a more comprehensive understanding.
With that in mind, let's delve into the average projections of some Energy Transfer LP metrics that are commonly tracked and projected by analysts on Wall Street.
The combined assessment of analysts suggests that 'Midstream - Gathered volumes' will likely reach 22052 billion british thermal units per day. Compared to the current estimate, the company reported 21329 billion british thermal units per day in the same quarter of the previous year.
It is projected by analysts that the 'Midstream - NGLs produced' will reach 1,184.63 thousands of barrels of oil per day. Compared to the current estimate, the company reported 1,181.00 thousands of barrels of oil per day in the same quarter of the previous year.
The collective assessment of analysts points to an estimated 'Midstream - Equity NGLs' of 64.78 thousands of barrels of oil per day. The estimate compares to the year-ago value of 64.00 thousands of barrels of oil per day.
Analysts' assessment points toward 'NGL and Refined Products Transportation and Services - NGL transportation volumes' reaching 2,472.83 thousands of barrels of oil per day. The estimate is in contrast to the year-ago figure of 2,331.00 thousands of barrels of oil per day.
The average prediction of analysts places 'NGL and Refined Products Transportation and Services - Refined products transportation volumes' at 592.25 thousands of barrels of oil per day. The estimate compares to the year-ago value of 599.00 thousands of barrels of oil per day.
Based on the collective assessment of analysts, 'NGL and Refined Products Transportation and Services - NGL and refined products terminal volumes' should arrive at 1,782.19 thousands of barrels of oil per day. The estimate compares to the year-ago value of 1,553.00 thousands of barrels of oil per day.
The consensus among analysts is that 'NGL and Refined Products Transportation and Services - NGL fractionation volumes' will reach 1,241.74 thousands of barrels of oil per day. The estimate compares to the year-ago value of 1,150.00 thousands of barrels of oil per day.
The consensus estimate for 'Adjusted EBITDA- Investment in USAC' stands at $192.43 million. The estimate compares to the year-ago value of $149.00 million.
Analysts predict that the 'Adjusted EBITDA- Intrastate transportation and storage' will reach $372.16 million. The estimate is in contrast to the year-ago figure of $284.00 million.
Analysts expect 'Adjusted EBITDA- Interstate transportation and storage' to come in at $474.73 million. Compared to the present estimate, the company reported $470.00 million in the same quarter last year.
According to the collective judgment of analysts, 'Adjusted EBITDA- Investment in Sunoco LP' should come in at $844.40 million. Compared to the current estimate, the company reported $454.00 million in the same quarter of the previous year.
Analysts forecast 'Adjusted EBITDA- NGL and refined products transportation and services' to reach $1.13 billion. The estimate compares to the year-ago value of $1.03 billion.
View all Key Company Metrics for Energy Transfer LP here>>>
Energy Transfer LP shares have witnessed a change of +6% in the past month, in contrast to the Zacks S&P 500 composite's -1.5% move. With a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), ET is expected closely follow the overall market performance in the near term. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>> .
