Pembina Pipeline (TSE:PPL) Sets New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

Pembina Pipeline Co. (TSE:PPL) (NYSE:PBA)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on the stock from C$55.00 to C$56.00. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Pembina Pipeline traded as high as C$51.67 and last traded at C$51.47, with a volume of 235626 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at C$51.22.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. ATB Capital upped their price objective on Pembina Pipeline from C$55.00 to C$56.00 in a research report on Friday, April 5th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Pembina Pipeline from C$53.00 to C$54.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Pembina Pipeline from C$55.00 to C$56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Pembina Pipeline from C$51.00 to C$52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Pembina Pipeline from C$55.00 to C$56.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 19th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$54.67.

Insider Activity

In other Pembina Pipeline news, Director Henry William Sykes purchased 1,984 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of C$48.44 per share, for a total transaction of C$96,098.02. In other news, Senior Officer J. Scott Burrows sold 5,314 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$48.82, for a total transaction of C$259,429.48. Also, Director Henry William Sykes bought 1,984 shares of Pembina Pipeline stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of C$48.44 per share, for a total transaction of C$96,098.02. Insiders have sold 56,037 shares of company stock worth $2,822,669 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Pembina Pipeline Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 74.45, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a current ratio of 1.03. The business’s fifty day moving average price is C$50.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$47.88. The stock has a market capitalization of C$29.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.51, a P/E/G ratio of 4.80 and a beta of 1.48.

Pembina Pipeline (TSE:PPL) (NYSE:PBA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported C$0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of C$0.74 by C($0.01). The company had revenue of C$1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of C$2.50 billion. Pembina Pipeline had a net margin of 20.39% and a return on equity of 11.65%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Pembina Pipeline Co. will post 3.1496556 earnings per share for the current year.

Pembina Pipeline Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 17th were given a dividend of $0.69 per share. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.37%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 17th. This is a positive change from Pembina Pipeline’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Pembina Pipeline’s payout ratio is 88.75%.

About Pembina Pipeline

Pembina Pipeline Corporation provides energy transportation and midstream services. It operates through three segments: Pipelines, Facilities, and Marketing & New Ventures. The Pipelines segment operates conventional, oil sands and heavy oil, and transmission assets with a transportation capacity of 2.9 millions of barrels of oil equivalent per day, the ground storage capacity of 10 millions of barrels, and rail terminalling capacity of approximately 105 thousands of barrels of oil equivalent per day serving markets and basins across North America.