Pembina Pipeline (NYSE:PBA) Hits New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

Pembina Pipeline Corp. (NYSE:PBA) (TSE:PPL) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday after Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on the stock from $64.00 to $68.00. Royal Bank Of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Pembina Pipeline traded as high as $46.77 and last traded at $46.7460, with a volume of 237338 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $46.30.

Several other analysts have also commented on PBA. Weiss Ratings upgraded Pembina Pipeline from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. TD Securities reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Pembina Pipeline in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Pembina Pipeline in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Pembina Pipeline from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.67.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pembina Pipeline

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Pembina Pipeline by 15.4% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,328,784 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $149,011,000 after purchasing an additional 443,270 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in Pembina Pipeline by 28.2% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,854 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 408 shares during the period. Broderick Brian C grew its position in Pembina Pipeline by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Broderick Brian C now owns 32,823 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,469,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank grew its position in Pembina Pipeline by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,955,896 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $87,423,000 after purchasing an additional 416,100 shares during the period. Finally, Midwest Professional Planners LTD. grew its position in Pembina Pipeline by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Midwest Professional Planners LTD. now owns 24,008 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,075,000 after purchasing an additional 410 shares during the period. 55.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Pembina Pipeline Price Performance

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.18. The company has a market capitalization of $27.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.31 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

Pembina Pipeline (NYSE:PBA) (TSE:PPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.06 billion. Pembina Pipeline had a return on equity of 11.52% and a net margin of 22.22%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.80 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Pembina Pipeline Corp. will post 2.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pembina Pipeline Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.735 per share. This is a boost from Pembina Pipeline’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.3%. Pembina Pipeline’s payout ratio is 108.33%.

About Pembina Pipeline

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.