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

Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (NYSE:PAA) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders purchased 4,020 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 55% compared to the typical daily volume of 2,595 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Plains All American Pipeline

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Syntax Research Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Plains All American Pipeline in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,742,000. Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Plains All American Pipeline by 6.0% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 24,815 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $431,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Plains All American Pipeline during the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Plains All American Pipeline by 15.1% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 55,494 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $996,000 after buying an additional 7,265 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Plains All American Pipeline by 0.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 595,776 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $10,349,000 after acquiring an additional 1,989 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.78% of the company’s stock.

Plains All American Pipeline Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE PAA traded up $0.15 on Tuesday, reaching $17.06. 658,755 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,845,772. Plains All American Pipeline has a fifty-two week low of $15.02 and a fifty-two week high of $19.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $17.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.23 and a beta of 1.64.

Plains All American Pipeline (NYSE:PAA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The pipeline company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $12.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.35 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Plains All American Pipeline will post 1.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Plains All American Pipeline Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were issued a $0.3175 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.44%. Plains All American Pipeline’s dividend payout ratio is currently 113.39%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on PAA. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Plains All American Pipeline from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $22.00 to $20.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Plains All American Pipeline in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $18.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $19.00 price objective on shares of Plains All American Pipeline in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded 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 research note on Friday, October 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $19.82.

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.