Pembina Pipeline (NYSE:PBA) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pembina Pipeline (NYSE:PBA) (TSE:PPL) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Friday morning.

Separately, TheStreet upgraded Pembina Pipeline from a c rating to a b- rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $50.33.

Pembina Pipeline Stock Down 1.1 %

PBA opened at $34.71 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $20.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.71, a P/E/G ratio of 5.14 and a beta of 1.20. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $34.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $33.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Pembina Pipeline has a 12 month low of $28.15 and a 12 month high of $36.17.

Pembina Pipeline (NYSE:PBA) (TSE:PPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The pipeline company reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.34. Pembina Pipeline had a return on equity of 13.11% and a net margin of 19.43%. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.83 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that Pembina Pipeline will post 2.28 EPS for the current year.

Pembina Pipeline Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.4944 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a boost from Pembina Pipeline’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $1.98 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.70%. Pembina Pipeline’s dividend payout ratio is 89.14%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pembina Pipeline

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Nexus Investment Management ULC lifted its holdings in shares of Pembina Pipeline by 16.4% during the 1st quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC now owns 35,500 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,254,000 after buying an additional 5,000 shares during the period. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Pembina Pipeline by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,666,186 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $94,175,000 after purchasing an additional 30,102 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Pembina Pipeline in the 1st quarter worth $88,000. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pembina Pipeline in the 4th quarter worth $665,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Pembina Pipeline by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 26,973 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $928,000 after purchasing an additional 1,437 shares in the last quarter. 55.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.