Plains GP (NYSE:PAGP) Raised to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Plains GP (NYSE:PAGP) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

PAGP has been the topic of a number of other reports. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Plains GP from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Plains GP from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $18.00 to $24.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Plains GP from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Plains GP from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, US Capital Advisors lowered shares of Plains GP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $23.36.

Plains GP Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of Plains GP stock opened at $26.51 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.02 and a beta of 0.45. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $23.20. Plains GP has a 12-month low of $16.68 and a 12-month high of $26.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PAGP. North Star Investment Management Corp. bought a new position in shares of Plains GP during the 1st quarter worth $56,000. Larson Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Plains GP in the 3rd quarter valued at about $46,000. O Domhnaill Enterprises Inc. bought a new stake in Plains GP in the 1st quarter valued at about $66,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Plains GP by 36.5% during the second quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,030 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 811 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Virtus Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in Plains GP by 46.5% during the fourth quarter. Virtus Advisers LLC now owns 5,859 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $112,000 after purchasing an additional 1,859 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.30% of the company’s stock.

Plains GP Company Profile

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.