Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY Raises Stake in Plains GP Holdings, L.P. (NYSE:PAGP)

Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY increased its stake in Plains GP Holdings, L.P. (NYSE:PAGP) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,535,470 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 34,894 shares during the quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY’s holdings in Plains GP were worth $28,222,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp grew its position in Plains GP by 17.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 640,918 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $11,857,000 after buying an additional 93,643 shares during the period. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Plains GP by 24.7% in the 4th quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 8,218,030 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $151,047,000 after acquiring an additional 1,629,008 shares during the period. Custom Index Systems LLC purchased a new position in Plains GP in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $265,000. Vestcor Inc raised its holdings in Plains GP by 79.1% during the third quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 78,442 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,451,000 after purchasing an additional 34,633 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT boosted its position in Plains GP by 1.2% during the third quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT now owns 4,373,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $80,900,000 after purchasing an additional 53,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.30% of the company’s stock.

Plains GP Trading Down 1.8 %

NYSE PAGP opened at $20.73 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $19.90 and a 200-day moving average of $19.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.92. Plains GP Holdings, L.P. has a 12 month low of $15.78 and a 12 month high of $22.31. The company has a market cap of $4.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.85 and a beta of 1.58.

Plains GP (NYSE:PAGP) last issued its earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The pipeline company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.21). The firm had revenue of $12.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.17 billion. Plains GP had a return on equity of 1.12% and a net margin of 0.33%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.15 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Plains GP Holdings, L.P. will post 0.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Plains GP Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.33%. This is a boost from Plains GP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Plains GP’s payout ratio is presently 178.82%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PAGP has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Raymond James raised their price target on Plains GP from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Plains GP from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $22.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley cut Plains GP from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $22.00 to $19.00 in a report on Friday, October 25th. Barclays increased their price objective on Plains GP from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Plains GP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Plains GP presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.60.

About Plains GP

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.