Plains All American Pipeline (NYSE:PAA) Hits New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (NYSE:PAA)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $20.80 and last traded at $20.57, with a volume of 4021260 shares. The stock had previously closed at $20.06.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PAA has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $19.00 target price on shares of Plains All American Pipeline in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Plains All American Pipeline from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $22.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Plains All American Pipeline from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Plains All American Pipeline in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $18.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded Plains All American Pipeline from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $19.92.

Plains All American Pipeline Stock Down 0.1 %

The firm has a market cap of $14.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.37 and a beta of 1.64. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $18.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $17.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Plains All American Pipeline (NYSE:PAA) last released its earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The pipeline company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.06. Plains All American Pipeline had a net margin of 2.08% and a return on equity of 11.63%. The business had revenue of $12.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.35 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. will post 1.17 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a $0.38 dividend. 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 dividend yield of 7.39%. Plains All American Pipeline’s dividend payout ratio is currently 135.71%.

Institutional Trading of Plains All American Pipeline

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PAA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Plains All American Pipeline by 58.9% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Plains All American Pipeline by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 4,140,089 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $71,913,000 after buying an additional 42,383 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in shares of Plains All American Pipeline by 48.9% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 3,428,897 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $59,560,000 after buying an additional 1,125,386 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Plains All American Pipeline by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,008,321 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $34,885,000 after buying an additional 32,061 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ING Groep NV grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 297,937 shares during the period. 41.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.