Plains All American Pipeline Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:PAA)

Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (NYSE:PAA) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Investors purchased 60,729 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 1,266% compared to the typical volume of 4,446 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on PAA shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $19.00 price objective on shares of Plains All American Pipeline in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Wolfe Research raised Plains All American Pipeline from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Plains All American Pipeline from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Plains All American Pipeline in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $18.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Plains All American Pipeline from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $22.00 to $20.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.21.

Plains All American Pipeline Stock Performance

Shares of PAA stock opened at $19.80 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.68 and a beta of 1.64. Plains All American Pipeline has a one year low of $15.02 and a one year high of $21.00. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $18.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.01.

Plains All American Pipeline (NYSE:PAA) last released its earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The pipeline company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $12.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.09 billion. Plains All American Pipeline had a return on equity of 11.63% and a net margin of 2.08%. Plains All American Pipeline’s quarterly revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.35 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Plains All American Pipeline will post 1.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Plains All American Pipeline 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 paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. This is a positive change 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.68%. Plains All American Pipeline’s payout ratio is presently 135.71%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of Plains All American Pipeline during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Plains All American Pipeline during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC bought a new stake in shares of Plains All American Pipeline in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its position in Plains All American Pipeline by 53.2% during the 2nd 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 period. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake 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 last quarter. 41.78% of the stock is 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.