Plains GP (NYSE:PAGP) Given New $24.00 Price Target at Raymond James

Plains GP (NYSE:PAGP) had its price target boosted by Raymond James from $23.00 to $24.00 in a research note published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a strong-buy rating on the pipeline company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on PAGP. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Plains GP from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Plains GP from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $22.00 to $20.00 in a research report 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 for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Plains GP from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.60.

Plains GP Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE PAGP opened at $21.74 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.01. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $19.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.58 and a beta of 1.58. Plains GP has a 52-week low of $15.78 and a 52-week high of $22.31.

Plains GP (NYSE:PAGP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 8th. The pipeline company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.21). Plains GP had a net margin of 0.33% and a return on equity of 1.12%. The firm had revenue of $12.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.15 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Plains GP will post 0.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Plains GP Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a $0.38 dividend. This is a positive change from Plains GP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.99%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. Plains GP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 149.41%.

Institutional Trading of Plains GP

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY lifted its stake in shares of Plains GP by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 1,535,470 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $28,222,000 after buying an additional 34,894 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR grew its stake in Plains GP by 1,862.0% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 207,678 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,817,000 after purchasing an additional 197,093 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Plains GP during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. F&V Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Plains GP in the fourth quarter valued at about $153,000. Finally, Leisure Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Plains GP in the fourth quarter worth about $931,000. 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.