Plains GP (NYSE:PAGP) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

Plains GP (NYSE:PAGP) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Thursday.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Wolfe Research upgraded Plains GP to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Plains GP from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.00.

Plains GP Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of Plains GP stock opened at $17.33 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Plains GP has a 12-month low of $14.93 and a 12-month high of $20.10. The company has a market cap of $3.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.88 and a beta of 1.53. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $18.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.59.

Plains GP (NYSE:PAGP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The pipeline company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $12.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.70 billion. Plains GP had a return on equity of 1.09% and a net margin of 0.33%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.25 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Plains GP will post 1.2 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Plains GP

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PAGP. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. lifted its position in Plains GP by 6.4% during the second quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 11,666,947 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $219,572,000 after purchasing an additional 703,158 shares during the period. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Plains GP by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 6,615,106 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $124,496,000 after buying an additional 232,644 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Plains GP by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 5,393,558 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $101,507,000 after buying an additional 113,098 shares during the last quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT grew its holdings in shares of Plains GP by 1.2% in the third quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT now owns 4,373,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $80,900,000 after acquiring an additional 53,000 shares during the period. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. increased its position in Plains GP by 18.1% during the second quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 1,822,200 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $34,294,000 after acquiring an additional 279,100 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.