Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Plains GP (NYSE:PAGP)

Plains GP Holdings, L.P. (NYSE:PAGPGet Free Report) saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Investors acquired 114,858 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 1,573% compared to the typical volume of 6,865 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Plains GP

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Diesslin Group Inc. grew its stake in Plains GP by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Diesslin Group Inc. now owns 82,841 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,011,000 after purchasing an additional 664 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Plains GP by 0.8% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 107,504 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,610,000 after purchasing an additional 884 shares during the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC raised its stake in shares of Plains GP by 5.9% in the first quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 12,133 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $295,000 after purchasing an additional 677 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Plains GP by 86.3% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,752,707 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $91,116,000 after purchasing an additional 1,738,351 shares during the period. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Plains GP by 3.7% during the first quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 96,014 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,331,000 after purchasing an additional 3,390 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PAGP. Barclays upped their price target on Plains GP from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Plains GP from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $18.00 to $24.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Zacks Research raised Plains GP from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Citigroup increased their price target on Plains GP from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on Plains GP from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Plains GP has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.36.

Get Our Latest Research Report on PAGP

Plains GP Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PAGP traded down $0.08 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $26.58. The company had a trading volume of 3,079,025 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,798,929. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $24.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.40. The stock has a market cap of $5.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.15 and a beta of 0.45. Plains GP has a 1 year low of $16.68 and a 1 year high of $26.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Plains GP Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Friday, July 31st will be given a $0.4175 dividend. This represents a $1.67 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 31st. Plains GP’s dividend payout ratio is presently 172.16%.

Plains GP Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Plains GP Holdings, L.P. (NYSE: PAGP) serves as the general partner of Plains All American Pipeline, L.P., one of North America’s leading energy infrastructure companies. Through its ownership of a 2% general partner interest and incentive distribution rights (IDRs), Plains GP Holdings participates in the governance and cash distribution structure of a diversified portfolio of crude oil and natural gas liquids gathering, transportation, storage, and terminaling assets.

The company’s primary business activities include overseeing the strategic direction and capital allocation decisions for its affiliated midstream operations.

Further Reading

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