Plains GP (NYSE:PAGP) Price Target Raised to $24.00

Plains GP (NYSE:PAGP) had its price target raised by Raymond James from $23.00 to $24.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a strong-buy rating on the pipeline company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on PAGP. Barclays lifted their price target on Plains GP from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Plains GP from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Plains GP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Plains GP from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Plains GP 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Plains GP has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.60.

Plains GP Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of Plains GP stock opened at $22.13 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $19.00. Plains GP has a 12-month low of $15.78 and a 12-month high of $22.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a market cap of $4.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.04 and a beta of 1.58.

Plains GP (NYSE:PAGP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The pipeline company reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.21). The company had revenue of $12.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 earned $0.15 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Plains GP will post 0.83 EPS for the current year.

Plains GP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This is a boost from Plains GP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.87%. Plains GP’s dividend payout ratio is 149.41%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Plains GP

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PAGP. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Plains GP by 24.7% during the 4th quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 8,218,030 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $151,047,000 after buying an additional 1,629,008 shares during the last quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT grew its holdings in shares of Plains GP by 1.2% in the third 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 acquiring an additional 53,000 shares during the period. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY increased its position in Plains GP by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 1,535,470 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $28,222,000 after acquiring an additional 34,894 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in Plains GP by 8.5% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,313,974 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $24,309,000 after acquiring an additional 103,353 shares during the period. Finally, Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC purchased a new position in Plains GP in the third quarter worth about $13,848,000. 88.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.