Plains GP Holdings, L.P. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.32 (NYSE:PAGP)

Plains GP Holdings, L.P. (NYSE:PAGP) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 2nd, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st will be given a dividend of 0.3175 per share by the pipeline company on Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $1.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.17%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st.

Plains GP has a payout ratio of 70.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Plains GP to earn $1.66 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.27 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 76.5%.

Plains GP Trading Down 1.1 %

Plains GP stock opened at $17.72 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.35 and a beta of 1.53. Plains GP has a 1 year low of $14.93 and a 1 year high of $20.10. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $18.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.00.

Plains GP (NYSE:PAGP) last issued its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The pipeline company reported $0.20 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $12.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.25 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Plains GP will post 1.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PAGP. Wolfe Research upgraded Plains GP to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Morgan Stanley lowered Plains GP from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Plains GP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Plains GP presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.00.

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.