Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (NYSE:PAA) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (NYSE:PAA) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the fourteen ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation, five have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $20.21.

Several research firms recently issued reports on PAA. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $19.00 price objective on shares of Plains All American Pipeline in a report on Friday, November 15th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Plains All American Pipeline from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays increased their target price on Plains All American Pipeline from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Wolfe Research raised Plains All American Pipeline from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Scotiabank reissued a “sector outperform” rating and issued a $23.00 price objective on shares of Plains All American Pipeline in a research report on Friday, January 10th.

Plains All American Pipeline Price Performance

NYSE PAA opened at $20.64 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $14.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.43 and a beta of 1.64. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $18.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.82. Plains All American Pipeline has a fifty-two week low of $15.02 and a fifty-two week high of $21.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

Plains All American Pipeline (NYSE:PAA) last posted its earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The pipeline company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $12.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.35 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Plains All American Pipeline will post 1.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Plains All American Pipeline Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. This is a boost from Plains All American Pipeline’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.36%. Plains All American Pipeline’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 113.39%.

Institutional Trading of Plains All American Pipeline

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Naples Global Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Plains All American Pipeline in the 4th quarter valued at $188,000. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in Plains All American Pipeline by 56.8% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 139,047 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,375,000 after purchasing an additional 50,391 shares during the last quarter. Clarus Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Plains All American Pipeline by 30.5% during the 4th quarter. Clarus Group Inc. now owns 91,527 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,563,000 after purchasing an additional 21,400 shares during the last quarter. Wealthstar Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Plains All American Pipeline in the fourth quarter valued at about $606,000. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new stake in Plains All American Pipeline during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. 41.78% of the stock is currently owned by 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.