Plains GP Holdings, L.P. (NYSE:PAGP) Shares Bought by Clearbridge Investments LLC

Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Plains GP Holdings, L.P. (NYSE:PAGP) by 11.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,152,201 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 646,130 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Plains GP were worth $113,077,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in shares of Plains GP by 61.7% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,363 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 520 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Plains GP during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Allworth Financial LP purchased a new position in shares of Plains GP during the fourth quarter worth $44,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Plains GP by 8,120.7% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,384 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 2,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC grew its stake in shares of Plains GP by 1,000.0% in the fourth quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC now owns 4,400 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 4,000 shares in the last quarter. 88.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut Plains GP from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $22.00 to $20.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Plains GP from $19.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Raymond James upped 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. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Plains GP from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Plains GP from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $21.00.

Plains GP Stock Performance

NYSE:PAGP opened at $21.36 on Tuesday. Plains GP Holdings, L.P. has a 12 month low of $17.17 and a 12 month high of $22.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.22 billion, a PE ratio of 40.30 and a beta of 1.55. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $21.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $19.70.

Plains GP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.12%. This is an increase from Plains GP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Plains GP’s dividend payout ratio is presently 286.79%.

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.