First Trust Advisors LP Cuts Stake in Pembina Pipeline Corp. $PBA

First Trust Advisors LP lessened its position in Pembina Pipeline Corp. (NYSE:PBA) (TSE:PPL) by 15.9% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 982,865 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 185,395 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Pembina Pipeline were worth $43,991,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in Pembina Pipeline by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 24,449 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $931,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Pembina Pipeline by 32.4% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,059 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. Ethic Inc. boosted its holdings in Pembina Pipeline by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 14,150 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $539,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. Broderick Brian C boosted its holdings in Pembina Pipeline by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Broderick Brian C now owns 32,823 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,469,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its position in Pembina Pipeline by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 9,768 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $372,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Pembina Pipeline in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on Pembina Pipeline from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Pembina Pipeline in a report on Friday, July 3rd. TD Securities reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Pembina Pipeline in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Scotiabank downgraded Pembina Pipeline from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.00.

Pembina Pipeline Trading Down 2.8%

Shares of PBA opened at $49.92 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $48.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $45.13. Pembina Pipeline Corp. has a twelve month low of $35.45 and a twelve month high of $51.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.00 and a beta of 0.57.

Pembina Pipeline (NYSE:PBA) (TSE:PPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.07. Pembina Pipeline had a net margin of 22.22% and a return on equity of 11.47%. The company had revenue of $1.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.06 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.80 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Pembina Pipeline Corp. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pembina Pipeline Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a $0.735 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.9%. This is an increase from Pembina Pipeline’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Pembina Pipeline’s payout ratio is currently 110.94%.

Pembina Pipeline Profile

Pembina Pipeline Corporation (NYSE: PBA) is a North American energy infrastructure company that develops, owns and operates midstream assets that transport, store and process hydrocarbons. Its core business focuses on the transportation of crude oil, natural gas liquids (NGLs) and condensate, along with gas processing, fractionation, storage and related marketing services. Pembina serves producers, refiners and other energy companies by providing pipeline capacity, terminal services and midstream solutions that link upstream production to downstream markets and export facilities.

The company’s asset base is concentrated in Western Canada, including major operations in Alberta and British Columbia, and it also has operations and commercial activities that extend into the United States.