Plains All American Pipeline (NYSE:PAA) Reaches New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (NYSE:PAA)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $20.80 and last traded at $20.57, with a volume of 4021260 shares. The stock had previously closed at $20.06.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on PAA. Barclays raised their price objective on Plains All American Pipeline from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Plains All American Pipeline from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Plains All American Pipeline in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $18.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $19.00 price target on shares of Plains All American Pipeline in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Scotiabank reiterated a “sector outperform” rating and set a $23.00 price objective on shares of Plains All American Pipeline in a report on Friday, January 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $19.92.

Plains All American Pipeline Trading Up 2.5 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company has a fifty day moving average of $17.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $17.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.37 and a beta of 1.64.

Plains All American Pipeline (NYSE:PAA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 8th. The pipeline company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $12.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.09 billion. Plains All American Pipeline had a net margin of 2.08% and a return on equity of 11.63%. Plains All American Pipeline’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.35 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. will post 1.17 EPS for the current year.

Plains All American Pipeline Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a $0.38 dividend. This is an increase from Plains All American Pipeline’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. Plains All American Pipeline’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 113.39%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Plains All American Pipeline

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Stablepoint Partners LLC increased its position in Plains All American Pipeline by 18.6% in the 4th quarter. Stablepoint Partners LLC now owns 19,125 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $327,000 after buying an additional 3,000 shares during the period. Eclectic Associates Inc. ADV increased its position in Plains All American Pipeline by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Eclectic Associates Inc. ADV now owns 12,100 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $207,000 after acquiring an additional 854 shares during the period. Hengehold Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Plains All American Pipeline by 61.2% during the 4th quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 80,970 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,383,000 after purchasing an additional 30,745 shares during the last quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Plains All American Pipeline in the 4th quarter valued at $249,000. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC acquired a new stake in Plains All American Pipeline in the 4th quarter worth $832,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.78% of the company’s stock.

Plains All American Pipeline Company Profile

Plains All American Pipeline, L.P., through its subsidiaries, engages in the pipeline transportation, terminaling, storage, and gathering of crude oil and natural gas liquids (NGL) in the United States and Canada. The company operates through two segments, Crude Oil and NGL. The Crude Oil segment offers gathering and transporting crude oil through pipelines, gathering systems, trucks, and on barges or railcars.