SG Americas Securities LLC Takes $308,000 Position in Plains GP Holdings, L.P. (NYSE:PAGP)

SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Plains GP Holdings, L.P. (NYSE:PAGP) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 16,737 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $308,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PAGP. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC increased its position in Plains GP by 24.7% during the fourth quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 8,218,030 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $151,047,000 after acquiring an additional 1,629,008 shares during the last quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT boosted its stake in shares of Plains GP by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT now owns 4,373,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $80,900,000 after purchasing an additional 53,000 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in Plains GP by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,313,974 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $24,309,000 after purchasing an additional 103,353 shares during the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC purchased a new stake in Plains GP in the 3rd quarter worth about $13,848,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Plains GP by 10.0% in the third quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 732,335 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $13,548,000 after purchasing an additional 66,690 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays upped their target price on Plains GP from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Wolfe Research raised Plains GP from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Plains GP from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $22.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Plains GP from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $22.00 to $19.00 in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Plains GP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Plains GP presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.60.

Plains GP Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE:PAGP opened at $21.32 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.92. Plains GP Holdings, L.P. has a 1-year low of $15.78 and a 1-year high of $22.31. The company has a 50-day moving average of $19.77 and a 200 day moving average of $19.04. The firm has a market cap of $4.21 billion, a PE ratio of 25.08 and a beta of 1.58.

Plains GP (NYSE:PAGP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The pipeline company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.21). The business had revenue of $12.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.17 billion. Plains GP had a return on equity of 1.12% and a net margin of 0.33%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.15 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Plains GP Holdings, L.P. will post 0.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Plains GP Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This is a boost from Plains GP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Plains GP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 178.82%.

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.