16,737 Shares in Plains GP Holdings, L.P. (NYSE:PAGP) Purchased by SG Americas Securities LLC

SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Plains GP Holdings, L.P. (NYSE:PAGP - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 16,737 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $308,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH raised its position in Plains GP by 114.8% during the 4th quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 370,496 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $6,810,000 after purchasing an additional 198,000 shares during the last quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Plains GP in the fourth quarter worth about $706,000. HF Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in Plains GP by 31.0% during the fourth quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC now owns 138,058 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $2,538,000 after acquiring an additional 32,691 shares during the last quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Plains GP in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,949,000. Finally, Fiduciary Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Plains GP during the fourth quarter worth $217,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.30% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Plains GP from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Plains GP from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Plains GP from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $22.00 to $19.00 in a report on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Plains GP from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $22.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Plains GP from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $22.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $20.60.

Plains GP Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PAGP traded down $0.39 during trading on Friday, hitting $20.73. 3,071,562 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,081,784. The company has a market cap of $4.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.39 and a beta of 1.58. Plains GP Holdings, L.P. has a 52-week low of $15.78 and a 52-week high of $22.31. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $19.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

Plains GP (NYSE:PAGP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The pipeline company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.21). Plains GP had a return on equity of 1.12% and a net margin of 0.33%. The business had revenue of $12.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.15 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Plains GP Holdings, L.P. will post 0.83 EPS for the current year.

Plains GP Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a $0.38 dividend. This is a boost from Plains GP's previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. Plains GP's payout ratio is presently 178.82%.

Plains GP 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.