Plains All American Pipeline (NYSE:PAA) Downgraded to Equal Weight Rating by Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Plains All American Pipeline (NYSE:PAA) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a report released on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has $20.00 price objective on the pipeline company’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $22.00.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on PAA. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Plains All American Pipeline in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $18.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley downgraded Plains All American Pipeline from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $19.00 price target on shares of Plains All American Pipeline in a research report on Friday, November 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $19.82.

Plains All American Pipeline Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PAA traded down $0.16 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $16.81. 1,587,813 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,825,972. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Plains All American Pipeline has a fifty-two week low of $15.02 and a fifty-two week high of $19.17. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.62. The firm has a market cap of $11.83 billion, a PE ratio of 15.01 and a beta of 1.64.

Plains All American Pipeline (NYSE:PAA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 8th. The pipeline company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.06. Plains All American Pipeline had a return on equity of 11.63% and a net margin of 2.08%. The business had revenue of $12.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.35 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Plains All American Pipeline will post 1.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Plains All American Pipeline Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were issued a dividend of $0.3175 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.56%. Plains All American Pipeline’s dividend payout ratio is currently 113.39%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Plains All American Pipeline

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of PAA. Citigroup Inc. raised its holdings in Plains All American Pipeline by 48.9% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 3,428,897 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $59,560,000 after buying an additional 1,125,386 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Plains All American Pipeline by 114.9% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,908,416 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $34,081,000 after acquiring an additional 1,020,277 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Plains All American Pipeline in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $11,634,000. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT lifted its holdings in shares of Plains All American Pipeline by 241.0% in the 3rd quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT now owns 449,827 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $7,813,000 after acquiring an additional 317,927 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ING Groep NV boosted its position in shares of Plains All American Pipeline by 29.1% during the 3rd quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 1,321,937 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $22,962,000 after purchasing an additional 297,937 shares during the period. 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.