Plains All American Pipeline (NYSE:PAA) Trading Up 4.7% After Dividend Announcement

Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (NYSE:PAA) traded up 4.7% on Wednesday following a dividend announcement from the company. The stock traded as high as $18.55 and last traded at $18.46. 970,842 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 72% from the average session volume of 3,452,345 shares. The stock had previously closed at $17.63.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.05%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This is a boost from Plains All American Pipeline’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Plains All American Pipeline’s dividend payout ratio is 113.39%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector outperform” rating and issued a $23.00 target price on shares of Plains All American Pipeline in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley 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 $19.00 in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Plains All American Pipeline in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $18.00 price target for the company. Wolfe Research raised shares of Plains All American Pipeline 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $19.00 price objective on shares of Plains All American Pipeline in a report on Friday, November 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.00.

Plains All American Pipeline Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The stock has a market cap of $13.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.86 and a beta of 1.64. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.67.

Plains All American Pipeline (NYSE:PAA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 8th. The pipeline company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 previous year, the firm posted $0.35 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. will post 1.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Plains All American Pipeline

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Plains All American Pipeline by 28.5% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 40,232 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $699,000 after purchasing an additional 8,932 shares during the period. Fortem Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Plains All American Pipeline by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC now owns 66,278 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,132,000 after buying an additional 2,772 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Plains All American Pipeline by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 266,756 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,556,000 after buying an additional 2,109 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Plains All American Pipeline by 58.9% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,221,571 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $125,439,000 after buying an additional 2,677,951 shares during the period. Finally, Syntax Research Inc. purchased a new position in Plains All American Pipeline in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,742,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.78% of the company’s stock.

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.