Plains GP (NYSE:PAGP) Upgraded at Wolfe Research

Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Plains GP (NYSE:PAGP) to a hold rating in a report released on Wednesday morning, Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on PAGP. StockNews.com upgraded Plains GP from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Plains GP from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Plains GP currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $20.11.

Plains GP Stock Down 0.1 %

Plains GP stock opened at $18.92 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $18.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $18.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Plains GP has a twelve month low of $14.71 and a twelve month high of $20.10. The company has a market capitalization of $3.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.50 and a beta of 1.53.

Plains GP (NYSE:PAGP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The pipeline company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.31 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $12.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.70 billion. Plains GP had a net margin of 0.33% and a return on equity of 1.09%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.25 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Plains GP will post 1.24 EPS for the current year.

Plains GP Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were issued a $0.3175 dividend. This represents a $1.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 31st. Plains GP’s payout ratio is 144.32%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Plains GP

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its position in Plains GP by 39.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 16,477 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $263,000 after buying an additional 4,668 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its holdings in shares of Plains GP by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,889,579 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $46,089,000 after purchasing an additional 370,857 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its stake in Plains GP by 47.7% in the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 38,322 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $611,000 after purchasing an additional 12,382 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in Plains GP by 46.6% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,232,115 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $19,653,000 after purchasing an additional 391,773 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp grew its stake in Plains GP by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 375,280 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $5,986,000 after buying an additional 7,923 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.30% of the company’s stock.

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.