HighTower Advisors LLC Has $7.12 Million Stock Holdings in Plains GP Holdings, L.P. (NYSE:PAGP)

HighTower Advisors LLC cut its position in Plains GP Holdings, L.P. (NYSE:PAGP) by 2.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 387,369 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 9,004 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC owned about 0.20% of Plains GP worth $7,120,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in shares of Plains GP by 61.7% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,363 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 520 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in shares of Plains GP by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 86,863 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,597,000 after acquiring an additional 598 shares during the period. Continuum Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Plains GP by 10.0% during the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 6,990 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $127,000 after acquiring an additional 637 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC grew its position in Plains GP by 1.2% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 59,998 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,110,000 after purchasing an additional 729 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Plains GP by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 25,634 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $471,000 after purchasing an additional 748 shares in the last quarter. 88.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Plains GP Stock Performance

Shares of PAGP stock opened at $21.27 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.13 and a beta of 1.55. 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $19.52. Plains GP Holdings, L.P. has a 52 week low of $17.17 and a 52 week high of $22.31.

Plains GP Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. This is an increase from Plains GP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.15%. Plains GP’s payout ratio is presently 286.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PAGP has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Plains GP from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $22.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Plains GP from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Plains GP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Plains GP from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Plains GP from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.60.

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.