Meritage Portfolio Management Trims Stake in Plains GP Holdings, L.P. (NYSE:PAGP)

Meritage Portfolio Management lowered its holdings in shares of Plains GP Holdings, L.P. (NYSE:PAGP) by 6.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 247,173 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 17,033 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management owned 0.13% of Plains GP worth $4,543,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. F&V Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Plains GP during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $153,000. Leisure Capital Management acquired a new stake in Plains GP in the fourth quarter valued at $931,000. Golden State Equity Partners increased its position in shares of Plains GP by 705.5% in the fourth quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 12,349 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $227,000 after buying an additional 10,816 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Plains GP by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 178,634 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,560,000 after buying an additional 7,105 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Custom Index Systems LLC acquired a new stake in Plains GP in the 4th quarter valued at about $265,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Plains GP from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Plains GP from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $22.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. StockNews.com raised Plains GP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Wolfe Research upgraded 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. Finally, Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Plains GP from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.60.

Plains GP Price Performance

PAGP opened at $21.32 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $19.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $19.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Plains GP Holdings, L.P. has a 52-week low of $15.78 and a 52-week high of $22.31. The company has a market cap of $4.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.08 and a beta of 1.58.

Plains GP (NYSE:PAGP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 8th. The pipeline company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.21). Plains GP had a return on equity of 1.12% and a net margin of 0.33%. The company had revenue of $12.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.17 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.15 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Plains GP Holdings, L.P. will post 0.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Plains GP Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly 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 is a boost from Plains GP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.13%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. Plains GP’s payout ratio is presently 178.82%.

Plains GP Profile

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.