Plains All American Pipeline (NYSE:PAA) Reaches New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (NYSE:PAA) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $19.31 and last traded at $19.12, with a volume of 749332 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.73.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley downgraded Plains All American Pipeline from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Scotiabank restated a “sector outperform” rating and set a $23.00 target price on shares of Plains All American Pipeline in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Plains All American Pipeline from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $22.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Wolfe Research upgraded Plains All American Pipeline from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $19.00 target price on shares of Plains All American Pipeline in a research note on Friday, November 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.00.

Plains All American Pipeline Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $17.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $17.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.86 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $12.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.09 billion. Plains All American Pipeline had a return on equity of 11.63% and a net margin of 2.08%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.35 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. will post 1.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Plains All American Pipeline Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.05%. This is a positive change from Plains All American Pipeline’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. Plains All American Pipeline’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 135.71%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Plains All American Pipeline in the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC bought a new position in Plains All American Pipeline during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its holdings 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 worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 1,318 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its holdings in Plains All American Pipeline by 31.2% during the second 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. lifted its holdings in Plains All American Pipeline by 16.3% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 6,094 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $109,000 after acquiring an additional 856 shares in the last quarter. 41.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Plains All American Pipeline Company Profile

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.