Plains GP (NYSE:PAGP) Reaches New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Plains GP Holdings, L.P. (NYSE:PAGP)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $22.16 and last traded at $21.95, with a volume of 2456208 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $21.43.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on PAGP. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Plains GP from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $22.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. StockNews.com raised shares of Plains GP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of 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. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Plains GP from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $22.00 to $19.00 in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Plains GP from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.22.

Plains GP Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $4.32 billion, a PE ratio of 25.74 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.93.

Plains GP (NYSE:PAGP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 8th. The pipeline company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.21). The firm 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.15 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Plains GP Holdings, L.P. will post 0.83 EPS for the current year.

Plains GP Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.95%. This is a boost from Plains GP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. Plains GP’s payout ratio is presently 149.41%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Plains GP

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. 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. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Plains GP during the 3rd quarter valued at about $13,848,000. Yaupon Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Plains GP in the third quarter worth approximately $9,772,000. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Plains GP in the 2nd quarter worth $5,734,000. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new position in shares of Plains GP in the third quarter worth about $4,013,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.30% of the company’s stock.

Plains GP Company 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.