38,422 Shares in Plains GP Holdings, L.P. (NYSE:PAGP) Bought by Ellsworth Advisors LLC

Ellsworth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Plains GP Holdings, L.P. (NYSE:PAGP) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 38,422 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $706,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PAGP. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Plains GP by 17.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 640,918 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $11,857,000 after acquiring an additional 93,643 shares during the last quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 1,629,008 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Plains GP in the second quarter valued at about $566,000. Vestcor Inc boosted its stake in shares of Plains GP by 79.1% during the third quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 78,442 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,451,000 after purchasing an additional 34,633 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT grew its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on PAGP shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Plains GP from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $22.00 to $20.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Plains GP from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wolfe Research raised shares of Plains GP from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Plains GP from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $22.00 to $19.00 in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Plains GP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Plains GP presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.22.

Plains GP Stock Performance

Shares of Plains GP stock opened at $21.43 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $4.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.21 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $19.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $18.88. Plains GP Holdings, L.P. has a 1-year low of $15.78 and a 1-year high of $21.73.

Plains GP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be issued a $0.38 dividend. This is an increase from Plains GP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.09%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. Plains GP’s payout ratio is presently 178.82%.

Plains GP Profile

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.