Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Pembina Pipeline Call Options (NYSE:PBA)

Pembina Pipeline Corp. (NYSE:PBA) (TSE:PPL) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 4,228 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 1,867% compared to the average volume of 215 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pembina Pipeline

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PBA. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co raised its stake in shares of Pembina Pipeline by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 309,779 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $12,528,000 after acquiring an additional 24,400 shares in the last quarter. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Pembina Pipeline by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,274,336 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $124,621,000 after acquiring an additional 298,412 shares in the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. boosted its stake in Pembina Pipeline by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 1,703,413 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $64,798,000 after acquiring an additional 40,944 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp grew its holdings in Pembina Pipeline by 12.6% in the third quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 1,073,818 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $43,402,000 after purchasing an additional 120,272 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in Pembina Pipeline by 96.3% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 216,975 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,775,000 after purchasing an additional 106,419 shares during the last quarter. 55.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Pembina Pipeline Stock Down 1.8%

Pembina Pipeline stock traded down $0.85 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $47.44. 67,542 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,395,706. The business has a fifty day moving average of $45.40 and a 200 day moving average of $42.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market cap of $27.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.81 and a beta of 0.58. Pembina Pipeline has a 12-month low of $35.45 and a 12-month high of $50.10.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.07. The business 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 11.47% and a net margin of 22.22%.The business’s revenue was down 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.80 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Pembina Pipeline will post 2.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pembina Pipeline Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a $0.735 dividend. This represents a $2.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.2%. This is a boost from Pembina Pipeline’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. Pembina Pipeline’s payout ratio is presently 108.33%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded Pembina Pipeline from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Barclays restated 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. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Pembina Pipeline from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, TD Securities upgraded shares of Pembina Pipeline from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Pembina Pipeline has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.67.

Pembina Pipeline Company 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.