Plains GP (NYSE:PAGP) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Plains GP (NYSE:PAGP) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Thursday.

Several other research firms also recently commented on PAGP. Wolfe Research upgraded Plains GP to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Morgan Stanley cut Plains GP from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.00.

Plains GP Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE PAGP opened at $17.33 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.88 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.90. Plains GP has a one year low of $14.93 and a one year high of $20.10. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $18.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.59.

Plains GP (NYSE:PAGP) last issued its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The pipeline company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by ($0.11). Plains GP had a return on equity of 1.09% and a net margin of 0.33%. The business had revenue of $12.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.25 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Plains GP will post 1.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Plains GP Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st will be paid a $0.3175 dividend. This represents a $1.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.33%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. Plains GP’s payout ratio is 153.01%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAGP. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. grew its holdings in shares of Plains GP by 6.4% during the 2nd 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 during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its stake in 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 worth $96,368,000 after purchasing an additional 634,929 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Plains GP in the second quarter worth $11,442,000. SIR Capital Management L.P. purchased a new position in Plains GP during the second quarter valued at $8,849,000. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lifted its position in Plains GP by 82.7% during the first quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 921,467 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $16,817,000 after buying an additional 417,031 shares during the period. 88.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.