Plains GP (NYSE:PAGP) PT Raised to $18.00

Plains GP (NYSE:PAGP) had its price objective raised by investment analysts at Barclays from $16.00 to $18.00 in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “underweight” rating on the pipeline company’s stock. Barclays‘s target price would indicate a potential downside of 4.05% from the stock’s previous close.

PAGP has been the subject of a number of other reports. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Plains GP from $16.50 to $17.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Plains GP in a research note on Monday, April 8th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $23.00 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Plains GP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.28.

Plains GP Stock Performance

Shares of PAGP opened at $18.76 on Friday. Plains GP has a one year low of $12.59 and a one year high of $19.77. The company has a 50-day moving average of $17.54 and a two-hundred day moving average of $16.51. The stock has a market cap of $3.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.39 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.87.

Plains GP (NYSE:PAGP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The pipeline company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $12.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.88 billion. Plains GP had a return on equity of 1.33% and a net margin of 0.41%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Plains GP will post 1.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Plains GP

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PAGP. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Plains GP by 41.4% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 11,333,168 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $130,898,000 after acquiring an additional 3,318,007 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Plains GP by 88.8% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,772,217 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $60,167,000 after acquiring an additional 1,774,438 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its position in Plains GP by 58.9% during the fourth quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 4,645,531 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $74,096,000 after acquiring an additional 1,721,120 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Plains GP by 43.7% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,958,406 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $79,930,000 after acquiring an additional 1,506,884 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its position in Plains GP by 68.5% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,254,876 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $40,491,000 after acquiring an additional 1,322,722 shares during the period. 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.