Clearbridge Investments LLC Increases Position in Pembina Pipeline Co. (NYSE:PBA)

Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Pembina Pipeline Co. (NYSE:PBA) (TSE:PPL) by 10.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,576 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,549 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Pembina Pipeline were worth $975,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PBA. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd purchased a new position in Pembina Pipeline during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,745,000. Quantbot Technologies LP grew its holdings in shares of Pembina Pipeline by 10,862.7% in the first quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 32,340 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,143,000 after purchasing an additional 32,045 shares in the last quarter. Guardian Capital Advisors LP increased its stake in Pembina Pipeline by 12.8% during the 4th quarter. Guardian Capital Advisors LP now owns 235,105 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,179,000 after buying an additional 26,766 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in Pembina Pipeline by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,284,326 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $45,360,000 after buying an additional 29,743 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG boosted its position in Pembina Pipeline by 24.2% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 378,415 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $13,025,000 after buying an additional 73,776 shares during the period. 55.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on PBA. StockNews.com lowered Pembina Pipeline from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Scotiabank lowered Pembina Pipeline from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 19th. Finally, CIBC upped their target price on shares of Pembina Pipeline from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.00.

Pembina Pipeline Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:PBA traded down $0.07 on Thursday, hitting $38.19. 44,531 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,093,367. Pembina Pipeline Co. has a 1-year low of $28.15 and a 1-year high of $38.52. The company has a market capitalization of $22.15 billion, a PE ratio of 16.63, a P/E/G ratio of 5.41 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.03. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $37.08 and its 200 day moving average is $35.65.

Pembina Pipeline (NYSE:PBA) (TSE:PPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The pipeline company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54. Pembina Pipeline had a return on equity of 13.33% and a net margin of 21.61%. The firm had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.83 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that Pembina Pipeline Co. will post 2.36 EPS for the current year.

Pembina Pipeline Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Monday, June 17th were paid a dividend of $0.501 per share. This is a positive change from Pembina Pipeline’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.25%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 17th. Pembina Pipeline’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 87.83%.

Pembina Pipeline Company Profile

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.