Korea Investment CORP Raises Stake in Pembina Pipeline Co. (NYSE:PBA)

Korea Investment CORP boosted its position in shares of Pembina Pipeline Co. (NYSE:PBA) (TSE:PPL) by 32.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 440,818 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 108,529 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in Pembina Pipeline were worth $16,279,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Pembina Pipeline by 338.7% during the fourth quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,289,706 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $47,598,000 after purchasing an additional 995,735 shares in the last quarter. AGF Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in Pembina Pipeline by 612.7% during the 4th quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 1,080,853 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $40,025,000 after buying an additional 929,206 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Pembina Pipeline by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,887,077 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $919,503,000 after acquiring an additional 770,729 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Pembina Pipeline by 18.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,049,470 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $167,000,000 after acquiring an additional 624,958 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Pembina Pipeline by 1,396.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 547,448 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $22,573,000 after acquiring an additional 510,873 shares during the last quarter. 55.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Pembina Pipeline Stock Performance

Shares of PBA opened at $39.91 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.29. The firm has a market cap of $23.17 billion, a PE ratio of 16.49 and a beta of 1.26. Pembina Pipeline Co. has a 12-month low of $33.83 and a 12-month high of $43.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Pembina Pipeline Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $0.4783 per share. This represents a $1.91 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.79%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. Pembina Pipeline’s payout ratio is currently 86.76%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on PBA. Citigroup upgraded Pembina Pipeline from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. TD Securities initiated coverage on shares of Pembina Pipeline in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Pembina Pipeline in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued an “overweight” rating on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Pembina Pipeline from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Pembina Pipeline has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $56.50.

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.