Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. Purchases 25,000 Shares of Plains GP Holdings, L.P. (NYSE:PAGP)

Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. boosted its holdings in Plains GP Holdings, L.P. (NYSE:PAGP) by 31.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 105,103 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 25,000 shares during the quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Plains GP were worth $1,932,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Plains GP by 24.7% during the fourth quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 8,218,030 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $151,047,000 after purchasing an additional 1,629,008 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Plains GP by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,167,192 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $58,213,000 after acquiring an additional 288,430 shares during the period. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY boosted its holdings in shares of Plains GP by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 1,535,470 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $28,222,000 after acquiring an additional 34,894 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of Plains GP by 8.5% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,313,974 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $24,309,000 after acquiring an additional 103,353 shares during the period. Finally, Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC raised its holdings in shares of Plains GP by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 835,254 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $15,352,000 after purchasing an additional 86,714 shares during the last quarter. 88.30% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on PAGP. StockNews.com raised shares of Plains GP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Wolfe Research raised Plains GP from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Barclays increased their target price on Plains GP from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Raymond James boosted their price target on Plains GP from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Plains GP from $19.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.00.

Plains GP Stock Performance

PAGP opened at $21.51 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.66. 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 cap of $4.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.59 and a beta of 1.55. Plains GP Holdings, L.P. has a 1-year low of $17.17 and a 1-year high of $22.31.

Plains GP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.07%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This is a positive change from Plains GP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Plains GP’s dividend payout ratio is presently 286.79%.

Plains GP Company 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.