Plains All American Pipeline Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:PAA)

Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (NYSE:PAA) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Investors purchased 469,013 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 9,210% compared to the typical daily volume of 5,038 call options.

Institutional Trading of Plains All American Pipeline

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Plains All American Pipeline by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 76,066,823 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,297,700,000 after buying an additional 1,663,908 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Plains All American Pipeline by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 33,280,692 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $567,769,000 after purchasing an additional 677,959 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Plains All American Pipeline by 15.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,198,958 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $122,814,000 after purchasing an additional 967,059 shares in the last quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON increased its holdings in Plains All American Pipeline by 18.9% in the second quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 6,774,650 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $124,112,000 after buying an additional 1,076,291 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new stake in Plains All American Pipeline in the third quarter valued at $87,462,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.78% of the company’s stock.

Plains All American Pipeline Trading Down 0.2%

PAA opened at $19.69 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.89 billion, a PE ratio of 26.97 and a beta of 0.59. Plains All American Pipeline has a one year low of $15.57 and a one year high of $20.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.01. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $18.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.61.

Plains All American Pipeline (NYSE:PAA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.01. Plains All American Pipeline had a net margin of 1.54% and a return on equity of 11.69%. Plains All American Pipeline’s quarterly revenue was down 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.37 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Plains All American Pipeline will post 1.52 EPS for the current year.

Plains All American Pipeline Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Friday, January 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.4175 per share. This represents a $1.67 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 30th. This is a positive change from Plains All American Pipeline’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Plains All American Pipeline’s dividend payout ratio is currently 138.02%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Plains All American Pipeline in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective (down previously from $24.00) on shares of Plains All American Pipeline in a report on Friday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Plains All American Pipeline from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Bank of America lowered Plains All American Pipeline from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $19.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Mizuho set a $23.00 price objective on Plains All American Pipeline in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.40.

Plains All American Pipeline Company Profile

Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (NYSE: PAA) is a prominent North American midstream energy company that specializes in the transportation, storage and marketing of crude oil, natural gas liquids (NGLs) and refined products. The partnership’s integrated infrastructure network supports the movement of hydrocarbons from major supply basins to domestic and export markets, providing connectivity between production areas, refineries and marine terminals. Plains All American’s services include long-haul and short-haul pipeline systems, inventory services and fee-based storage contracts, helping producers and refiners optimize supply chains and manage market access.

The company operates an extensive onshore pipeline network that spans major U.S.