Kesler Norman & Wride LLC Takes Position in Plains GP Holdings, L.P. (NYSE:PAGP)

Kesler Norman & Wride LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Plains GP Holdings, L.P. (NYSE:PAGP - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 28,287 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $523,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAGP. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $219,572,000 after buying an additional 703,158 shares during the period. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC boosted its position in 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 worth $124,496,000 after acquiring an additional 232,644 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Plains GP by 2.1% in the second quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 5,393,558 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $101,507,000 after purchasing an additional 113,098 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 279,100 shares during the period. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Plains GP by 10.5% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,804,713 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $33,965,000 after purchasing an additional 171,217 shares in the last quarter. 88.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Plains GP Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PAGP traded up $0.23 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $18.81. The company had a trading volume of 948,683 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,760,000. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $18.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $18.65. The stock has a market cap of $3.71 billion, a PE ratio of 21.38 and a beta of 1.53. 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 Holdings, L.P. has a 1-year low of $14.93 and a 1-year high of $20.10.

Plains GP (NYSE:PAGP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The pipeline company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.31 by ($0.11). Plains GP had a return on equity of 1.09% and a net margin of 0.33%. The company had revenue of $12.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.25 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Plains GP Holdings, L.P. will post 1.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Plains GP Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.3175 per share. This represents a $1.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.75%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. Plains GP's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 144.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PAGP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Plains GP to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Plains GP from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Plains GP presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $20.11.

Plains GP Company Profile

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.