The world of finance is always full of surprises, and this May 26th, 2023 was no exception. As reported by Bloomberg.com, Clearbridge Investments LLC has recently lowered its holdings in Equitrans Midstream Co. (NYSE:ETRN) by a modest yet substantial 1.3% during the fourth quarter. The institutional investor owned just under two million shares of the company’s stock after selling over 20 thousand shares during the three-month period. This action effectively means that Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns about 0.46% of Equitrans Midstream and holds this stake at a current valuation of $13,398,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
This news did not go unnoticed amongst financial analysts who have tracked ETRN’s recent performance closely. Citigroup cut their target price on Equitrans Midstream from $8.00 to $6.50 earlier in April and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note soon after. Barclays followed suit shortly thereafter, cutting their target price on Equitrans Midstream from $8.00 to $6.00 while setting an “equal weight” rating on the same stoic stock.
Raymond James has also initiated coverage on Equitrans Midstream by issuing a “market perform” rating following the announcement released this past April 21st; however, Goldman Sachs went in the opposite direction altogether and lowered Equitrans Midstream’s rating from ‘buy’ to ‘sell’ while simultaneously reducing their target price for ETRN from $9.50 down to only $6 per share as well.
Unsurprisingly, three separate investment analysts have since been tagged with sell ratings for ETRN while seven others have assigned buy ratings or simply opted for a hold position instead when it comes to considering Equitrans Midstream these days.
At present, ETRN is trading at $5.90 on the New York Stock Exchange on this date, May 26th, 2023. The company’s current ratio stands at a respectable 1.03 while the quick ratio falls in line and maintains the same figure. The debt-to-equity ratio of 4.81 is still an impressive feat for Equitrans Midstream despite the recent turmoil that has affected its stock price both short and long-term over time.
Moreover, ETRN has seen its fair share of undulations this past year, showcasing both a 52-week low of $4.60 and a 52-week high of $9.90 throughout this period. Its current moving average hovers at around $5.23 while its more long-term trend still moves steadily upward towards $6.40 on average when examining the same simple moving window spanning a full two hundred days back to last year.
In conclusion, it’s clear that Equitrans Midstream Co has had its ups and downs over the past few months but remains as exciting a prospect for institutional investors as ever before!
Institutional Investors and Analysts Divided Over Future of Equitrans Midstream Co. (ETRN)
Equitrans Midstream Co. (ETRN) has seen a surge in institutional investors and hedge funds buying and selling their shares in the company, indicating positive interest from professional investors. Captrust Financial Advisors has lifted its stake in the shares of ETRN by 50.6% during the second quarter. The recent activity at ETRN’s stock highlights Siganturefd LLC lifting its stake by 89.6%, MQS Management LLC acquiring a new position, Covestor Ltd lifting its stake by 74.3%, and Cedar Brook Financial Partners LLC acquiring new positions – all within months of each other.
However, ETRN’s CFO Kirk R. Oliver also purchased 9,000 shares of Equitrans Midstream stock in March at an average cost of $5.46 per share with insiders owning just over half of the company’s stock holdings.
The risk factor is further amplified as analysts cut down surrounding predictions for ETRN stocks as well. Citigroup noted an adjustment downwards to $6.50 from $8 on target prices with respect to Equitrans Midstream whilst Barclays targeted price cuts lower to $6 from $8 on Monday, April 10th.
Apart from all these changes surrounding ETRN’s financial outlook – it managed to surpass earnings in May’s first quarter data posting earnings results that superseded consensus estimates according to recent research notes published last week.
Despite mixed outlooks regarding forecasts for ETRN’s future stock prices after recently disappointing reports analyst hopes are still high for Q2 objectives currently lined up for Equitrans Midstream Co., as they confirmed plans for a quarterly dividend that was paid on May 15th totaling to about $0.15 per share awarded and a yield of about 10%. Investors should continuously monitor changing trends concerning trades and market fluctuation leading up to upcoming quarters hoping dividends will be less volatile than previous years’ performance.
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