Plains All American Pipeline (NYSE:PAA) Cut to “Equal Weight” at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company downgraded 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 reports. They currently have $20.00 price objective on the pipeline company’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $22.00.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on PAA. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $19.00 target price on shares of Plains All American Pipeline in a report on Friday, November 15th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Plains All American Pipeline in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $18.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered Plains All American Pipeline from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $22.00 to $19.00 in a report on Friday, October 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $19.82.

Plains All American Pipeline Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of PAA stock opened at $16.94 on Wednesday. Plains All American Pipeline has a 1 year low of $15.02 and a 1 year high of $19.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.92 billion, a PE ratio of 15.13 and a beta of 1.64. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $17.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $17.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.01.

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

Plains All American Pipeline Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st were given a $0.3175 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.50%. Plains All American Pipeline’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 113.39%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Plains All American Pipeline

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAA. Axiom Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Plains All American Pipeline by 5.2% in the third quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC now owns 15,300 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $274,000 after buying an additional 750 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in Plains All American Pipeline by 16.3% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 6,094 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $109,000 after acquiring an additional 856 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in Plains All American Pipeline by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 18,146 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $315,000 after acquiring an additional 887 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Plains All American Pipeline by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 106,845 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,908,000 after purchasing an additional 927 shares during the period. Finally, U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Plains All American Pipeline by 0.4% in the third quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 263,645 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,580,000 after purchasing an additional 1,047 shares in the last quarter. 41.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Plains All American Pipeline

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.