Clarus Group Inc. Buys 21,400 Shares of Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (NYSE:PAA)

Clarus Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (NYSE:PAA) by 30.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 91,527 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,400 shares during the quarter. Plains All American Pipeline accounts for about 0.6% of Clarus Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Clarus Group Inc.’s holdings in Plains All American Pipeline were worth $1,563,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Plains All American Pipeline by 58.9% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,221,571 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $125,439,000 after purchasing an additional 2,677,951 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in Plains All American Pipeline by 48.9% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 3,428,897 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $59,560,000 after acquiring an additional 1,125,386 shares during the last quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY grew its holdings in Plains All American Pipeline by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 2,610,872 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $44,594,000 after acquiring an additional 38,062 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Plains All American Pipeline by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,008,321 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $34,885,000 after acquiring an additional 32,061 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ING Groep NV grew its holdings in Plains All American Pipeline by 29.1% during the 3rd quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 1,321,937 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $22,962,000 after acquiring an additional 297,937 shares during the last quarter. 41.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Plains All American Pipeline Stock Up 1.8 %

Plains All American Pipeline stock opened at $19.75 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. has a 12-month low of $15.45 and a 12-month high of $21.00. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $18.62 and its 200 day moving average is $17.89. The company has a market capitalization of $13.90 billion, a PE ratio of 13.25 and a beta of 1.65.

Plains All American Pipeline (NYSE:PAA) last released 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 company had revenue of $12.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.09 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.35 EPS. Plains All American Pipeline’s quarterly revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. will post 1.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Plains All American Pipeline Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.70%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This is an increase from Plains All American Pipeline’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Plains All American Pipeline’s payout ratio is presently 135.71%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Plains All American Pipeline from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $22.00 to $19.00 in a report on Friday, October 25th. Scotiabank reissued a “sector outperform” rating and set a $23.00 target price on shares of Plains All American Pipeline in a report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Plains All American Pipeline from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $22.00 to $20.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. 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. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Plains All American Pipeline from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Plains All American Pipeline presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.21.

Plains All American Pipeline Company Profile

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.