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

Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (NYSE:PAA) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders acquired 469,013 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 9,210% compared to the typical daily volume of 5,038 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PAA. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Plains All American Pipeline by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40,909 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $698,000 after buying an additional 601 shares during the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Plains All American Pipeline by 0.8% during the second quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 80,515 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,475,000 after acquiring an additional 628 shares in the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in Plains All American Pipeline by 40.7% during the fourth quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,263 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 655 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Plains All American Pipeline by 5.2% in the second quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,247 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $279,000 after acquiring an additional 748 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Plains All American Pipeline by 76.1% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,761 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 761 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Bank of America lowered shares of Plains All American Pipeline from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $19.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Plains All American Pipeline from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Plains All American Pipeline in a report on Friday, January 16th. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $22.00 target price (down from $24.00) on shares of Plains All American Pipeline in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Mizuho set a $23.00 price objective on Plains All American Pipeline in a report on Friday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.40.

Plains All American Pipeline Price Performance

NYSE PAA opened at $19.24 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $18.19 and its 200-day moving average is $17.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company has a market capitalization of $13.57 billion, a PE ratio of 26.36 and a beta of 0.59. Plains All American Pipeline has a 12-month low of $15.57 and a 12-month high of $20.77.

Plains All American Pipeline (NYSE:PAA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.01. Plains All American Pipeline had a net margin of 1.54% and a return on equity of 11.69%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.37 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Plains All American Pipeline will post 1.52 earnings per share 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 13th. Investors of record on Friday, January 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.4175 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 30th. This is a boost from Plains All American Pipeline’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.67 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.7%. Plains All American Pipeline’s dividend payout ratio is currently 138.02%.

Plains All American Pipeline Company Profile

Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (NYSE: PAA) is a prominent North American midstream energy company that specializes in the transportation, storage and marketing of crude oil, natural gas liquids (NGLs) and refined products. The partnership’s integrated infrastructure network supports the movement of hydrocarbons from major supply basins to domestic and export markets, providing connectivity between production areas, refineries and marine terminals. Plains All American’s services include long-haul and short-haul pipeline systems, inventory services and fee-based storage contracts, helping producers and refiners optimize supply chains and manage market access.

The company operates an extensive onshore pipeline network that spans major U.S.