Plains All American Pipeline (NYSE:PAA) Upgraded at Wolfe Research

Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Plains All American Pipeline (NYSE:PAA) from a peer perform rating to an outperform rating in a research report report published on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Wolfe Research currently has $22.00 price target on the pipeline company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Plains All American Pipeline in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $18.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $19.00 price target on shares of Plains All American Pipeline in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Plains All American Pipeline from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $22.00 to $20.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded Plains All American Pipeline from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Friday, October 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.00.

Plains All American Pipeline Stock Up 0.8 %

PAA stock opened at $18.88 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $17.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.68. The company has a market cap of $13.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.86 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.01. Plains All American Pipeline has a fifty-two week low of $15.02 and a fifty-two week high of $19.31.

Plains All American Pipeline (NYSE:PAA) last issued its earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The pipeline company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.06. Plains All American Pipeline had a return on equity of 11.63% and a net margin of 2.08%. The company had revenue of $12.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.35 earnings per share. Plains All American Pipeline’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Plains All American Pipeline will post 1.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Plains All American Pipeline Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.05%. This is a boost from Plains All American Pipeline’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Plains All American Pipeline’s payout ratio is currently 135.71%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Plains All American Pipeline

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PAA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Plains All American Pipeline by 58.9% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,221,571 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $125,439,000 after purchasing an additional 2,677,951 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in Plains All American Pipeline by 48.9% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 3,428,897 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $59,560,000 after purchasing an additional 1,125,386 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Plains All American Pipeline in the third quarter worth $11,634,000. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT increased its position in Plains All American Pipeline by 241.0% in the third quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT now owns 449,827 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $7,813,000 after buying an additional 317,927 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ING Groep NV raised its stake in shares of Plains All American Pipeline by 29.1% in the third quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 1,321,937 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $22,962,000 after buying an additional 297,937 shares during the period. 41.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Plains All American Pipeline

Plains All American Pipeline, L.P., through its subsidiaries, engages in the pipeline transportation, terminaling, storage, and gathering of crude oil and natural gas liquids (NGL) in the United States and Canada. The company operates through two segments, Crude Oil and NGL. The Crude Oil segment offers gathering and transporting crude oil through pipelines, gathering systems, trucks, and on barges or railcars.