Plains All American Pipeline Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:PAA)

Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (NYSE:PAA) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors acquired 9,116 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 251% compared to the typical volume of 2,594 call options.

Plains All American Pipeline Stock Up 5.2 %

Shares of PAA traded up $0.91 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $18.54. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,073,783 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,851,308. The company has a market cap of $13.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.55 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company has a fifty day moving average of $17.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $17.66. Plains All American Pipeline has a twelve month low of $15.02 and a twelve month high of $19.17.

Plains All American Pipeline (NYSE:PAA) last issued its earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The pipeline company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.35 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Plains All American Pipeline will post 1.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Plains All American Pipeline in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC acquired a new position in shares of Plains All American Pipeline in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its stake in Plains All American Pipeline by 53.2% during the second quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 3,795 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 1,318 shares during the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Plains All American Pipeline by 31.2% during the 2nd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 4,460 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $80,000 after acquiring an additional 1,060 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its holdings in Plains All American Pipeline by 16.3% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 6,094 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $109,000 after buying an additional 856 shares during the period. 41.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on PAA. Bank of America began 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 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley lowered Plains All American Pipeline from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $22.00 to $19.00 in a report on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Plains All American Pipeline from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $22.00 to $20.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, 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 note on Friday, November 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Plains All American Pipeline presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $19.82.

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.