Plains GP (NYSE:PAGP) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Plains GP (NYSE:PAGP) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on PAGP. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Plains GP from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Plains GP from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. US Capital Advisors downgraded Plains GP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Plains GP from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $18.00 to $24.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Plains GP from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $23.36.

Plains GP Stock Down 0.2%

NYSE:PAGP opened at $26.45 on Wednesday. Plains GP has a fifty-two week low of $16.68 and a fifty-two week high of $26.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.91 and a beta of 0.45. 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $24.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.23.

Plains GP Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 31st will be issued a $0.4175 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 31st. This represents a $1.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.3%. Plains GP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 172.16%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Plains GP

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Plains GP by 86.3% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,752,707 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $91,116,000 after acquiring an additional 1,738,351 shares during the period. Pathstone Holdings LLC lifted its position in Plains GP by 227.5% during the 3rd quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 2,055,395 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $37,490,000 after acquiring an additional 1,427,743 shares during the period. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its stake in Plains GP by 46.1% during the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 1,446,983 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $26,393,000 after purchasing an additional 456,426 shares during the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP grew its stake in Plains GP by 510.6% during the 4th quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 519,600 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $9,945,000 after purchasing an additional 434,499 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY increased its holdings in shares of Plains GP by 25.8% in the first quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 1,421,518 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $34,514,000 after purchasing an additional 291,397 shares during the period. 88.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Plains GP Company Profile

Plains GP Holdings, L.P. (NYSE: PAGP) serves as the general partner of Plains All American Pipeline, L.P., one of North America’s leading energy infrastructure companies. Through its ownership of a 2% general partner interest and incentive distribution rights (IDRs), Plains GP Holdings participates in the governance and cash distribution structure of a diversified portfolio of crude oil and natural gas liquids gathering, transportation, storage, and terminaling assets.

The company’s primary business activities include overseeing the strategic direction and capital allocation decisions for its affiliated midstream operations.