Plains GP (NYSE:PAGP) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

Plains GP (NYSE:PAGP) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Wednesday.

Separately, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Plains GP to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.11.

Plains GP Stock Performance

PAGP stock traded down $0.06 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $18.17. 951,728 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,732,849. Plains GP has a twelve month low of $14.93 and a twelve month high of $20.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a market capitalization of $3.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.65 and a beta of 1.53. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $18.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.65.

Plains GP (NYSE:PAGP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The pipeline company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.31 by ($0.11). Plains GP had a return on equity of 1.09% and a net margin of 0.33%. The firm had revenue of $12.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.25 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Plains GP will post 1.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Plains GP

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. lifted its holdings in Plains GP by 6.4% during the second quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 11,666,947 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $219,572,000 after acquiring an additional 703,158 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Plains GP by 13.7% in the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 5,280,460 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $96,368,000 after buying an additional 634,929 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Plains GP during the second quarter worth about $11,442,000. SIR Capital Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Plains GP in the 2nd quarter valued at $8,849,000. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. increased its position in Plains GP by 82.7% during the 1st quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 921,467 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $16,817,000 after purchasing an additional 417,031 shares in the last quarter. 88.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Plains GP Company Profile

Plains GP Holdings, L.P., through its subsidiary, Plains All American Pipeline, L.P., owns and operates midstream infrastructure systems in the United States and Canada. It operates in two segments, Crude Oil and Natural Gas Liquids (NGLs). The company engages in the gathering and transporting crude oil and NGLs using pipelines, gathering systems, and trucks.