Pembina Pipeline Co. (NYSE:PBA) Short Interest Up 49.1% in November

Pembina Pipeline Co. (NYSE:PBA) (TSE:PPL) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 6,950,000 shares, a growth of 49.1% from the November 15th total of 4,660,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,090,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.4 days. Currently, 1.2% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PBA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group initiated coverage on Pembina Pipeline in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Raymond James began coverage on Pembina Pipeline in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Barclays started coverage on shares of Pembina Pipeline in a research note on Thursday. They issued an “overweight” rating on the stock. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Pembina Pipeline from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.50.

Pembina Pipeline Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PBA traded down $0.29 during trading on Friday, hitting $38.31. The company had a trading volume of 79,110 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,126,946. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.96 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.65. Pembina Pipeline has a 12 month low of $32.39 and a 12 month high of $43.44.

Pembina Pipeline Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.20%. This is an increase from Pembina Pipeline’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Pembina Pipeline’s payout ratio is currently 84.30%.

Institutional Trading of Pembina Pipeline

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PBA. PDT Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Pembina Pipeline during the third quarter worth $1,329,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Pembina Pipeline by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 12,767 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $527,000 after purchasing an additional 860 shares during the period. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. lifted its stake in Pembina Pipeline by 49.2% in the second quarter. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. now owns 784,516 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $29,095,000 after purchasing an additional 258,575 shares during the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp grew its stake in shares of Pembina Pipeline by 15.5% during the third quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 1,196,390 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $49,381,000 after buying an additional 160,946 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Pembina Pipeline by 8.8% in the third quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 14,757 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $609,000 after buying an additional 1,199 shares during the period. 55.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Pembina Pipeline

Pembina Pipeline Corporation provides energy transportation and midstream services. It operates through three segments: Pipelines, Facilities, and Marketing & New Ventures. The Pipelines segment operates conventional, oil sands and heavy oil, and transmission assets with a transportation capacity of 2.9 millions of barrels of oil equivalent per day, the ground storage capacity of 10 millions of barrels, and rail terminalling capacity of approximately 105 thousands of barrels of oil equivalent per day serving markets and basins across North America.