Pembina Pipeline (NYSE:PBA) Upgraded to “Buy” at 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 report published on Friday morning.

Separately, TheStreet raised shares of Pembina Pipeline from a c rating to a b- rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. 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 Performance

Shares of Pembina Pipeline stock opened at $34.71 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Pembina Pipeline has a twelve month low of $28.15 and a twelve month high of $36.17. The stock has a market cap of $20.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.71, a P/E/G ratio of 5.08 and a beta of 1.20. The company’s fifty day moving average is $34.78 and its 200 day moving average is $33.39.

Pembina Pipeline (NYSE:PBA) (TSE:PPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The pipeline company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.34. Pembina Pipeline had a net margin of 19.43% and a return on equity of 13.11%. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.83 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Pembina Pipeline will post 2.28 EPS for the current year.

Pembina Pipeline Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.4944 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.98 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.70%. This is a boost from Pembina Pipeline’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Pembina Pipeline’s dividend payout ratio is 88.69%.

Institutional Trading of Pembina Pipeline

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its position in Pembina Pipeline by 22.6% during the fourth quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 1,786 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 329 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its position in Pembina Pipeline by 36.6% during the second quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,346 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 361 shares during the last quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC boosted its position in Pembina Pipeline by 4.8% during the first quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 8,437 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $273,000 after acquiring an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Pembina Pipeline by 1.5% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 30,388 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,143,000 after acquiring an additional 438 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teamwork Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Pembina Pipeline by 5.3% during the third quarter. Teamwork Financial Advisors LLC now owns 9,129 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $274,000 after acquiring an additional 462 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 55.37% of the company’s stock.

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.