Westerkirk Capital Inc. Sells 22,700 Shares of Pembina Pipeline Corp. $PBA

Westerkirk Capital Inc. lessened its position in shares of Pembina Pipeline Corp. (NYSE:PBA) (TSE:PPL) by 93.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,700 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 22,700 shares during the quarter. Westerkirk Capital Inc.’s holdings in Pembina Pipeline were worth $65,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PBA. Norges Bank bought a new position in Pembina Pipeline during the fourth quarter worth $213,701,000. MUFG Securities EMEA plc bought a new stake in Pembina Pipeline during the second quarter valued at $52,514,000. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in Pembina Pipeline by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 8,620,307 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $329,245,000 after acquiring an additional 1,304,227 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Pembina Pipeline by 61.6% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,328,709 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $94,207,000 after acquiring an additional 887,413 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Scotia Capital Inc. raised its position in shares of Pembina Pipeline by 12.6% in the 3rd quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 6,425,487 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $258,724,000 after acquiring an additional 717,773 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 55.37% of the company’s stock.

Pembina Pipeline Stock Down 0.5%

PBA stock opened at $48.13 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $46.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.73. The company has a market cap of $27.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.07 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.83. Pembina Pipeline Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $35.45 and a fifty-two week high of $50.10.

Pembina Pipeline (NYSE:PBA) (TSE:PPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.07. Pembina Pipeline had a return on equity of 11.47% and a net margin of 22.22%.The firm had revenue of $1.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.06 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.80 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Pembina Pipeline Corp. will post 2.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pembina Pipeline Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.735 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This is a positive change from Pembina Pipeline’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $2.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.1%. Pembina Pipeline’s dividend payout ratio is currently 108.33%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on PBA shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Pembina Pipeline from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Pembina Pipeline in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Pembina Pipeline from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, May 10th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Pembina Pipeline in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Pembina Pipeline from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $62.67.

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.