Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Trims Position in Plains GP Holdings, L.P. $PAGP

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Plains GP Holdings, L.P. (NYSE:PAGP) by 3.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 4,821,628 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 195,213 shares during the quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s holdings in Plains GP were worth $92,286,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Energy Income Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Plains GP by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 10,196,673 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $185,987,000 after purchasing an additional 102,916 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Plains GP by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,386,299 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $80,006,000 after purchasing an additional 66,695 shares during the last quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT increased its position in shares of Plains GP by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT now owns 3,725,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $71,296,000 after purchasing an additional 140,000 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased its position in shares of Plains GP by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,407,809 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $65,225,000 after purchasing an additional 58,003 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Plains GP by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 2,829,953 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $54,165,000 after purchasing an additional 163,094 shares during the last quarter. 88.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on PAGP. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Plains GP from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $18.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Barclays raised their price objective on Plains GP from $18.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. US Capital Advisors downgraded Plains GP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Zacks Research raised Plains GP from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on Plains GP from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Plains GP has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $23.00.

Plains GP Stock Performance

NYSE PAGP opened at $24.35 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $4.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.94 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $24.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $21.90. Plains GP Holdings, L.P. has a 1-year low of $16.68 and a 1-year high of $26.15.

Plains GP Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 1st were given a $0.4175 dividend. This represents a $1.67 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 1st. Plains GP’s payout ratio is currently 172.16%.

Plains GP Company Profile

Plains GP Holdings, L.P. (NYSE: PAGP) serves as the general partner of Plains All American Pipeline, L.P., one of North America’s leading energy infrastructure companies. Through its ownership of a 2% general partner interest and incentive distribution rights (IDRs), Plains GP Holdings participates in the governance and cash distribution structure of a diversified portfolio of crude oil and natural gas liquids gathering, transportation, storage, and terminaling assets.

The company’s primary business activities include overseeing the strategic direction and capital allocation decisions for its affiliated midstream operations.