Pembina Pipeline Corp. $PBA Shares Purchased by HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC

Key Points

• HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Pembina Pipeline Corp. by 66.5%, owning 722,092 shares after purchasing an additional 288,274 shares in the first quarter.
• Pembina Pipeline recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.71, up from the previous $0.51, reflecting a yield of 7.7% and a dividend payout ratio of 95.77%.
• Wall Street analysts show mixed ratings for Pembina Pipeline, with two analysts rating it as a sell and others giving it a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $56.00.

HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Pembina Pipeline Corp. (NYSE:PBA - Free Report) TSE: PPL by 66.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 722,092 shares of the pipeline company's stock after purchasing an additional 288,274 shares during the period. Pembina Pipeline makes up about 1.8% of HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.12% of Pembina Pipeline worth $28,880,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Pembina Pipeline by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,296,456 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,011,833,000 after purchasing an additional 409,379 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in Pembina Pipeline by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 14,247,662 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $526,451,000 after purchasing an additional 413,373 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in Pembina Pipeline by 10.6% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 13,930,847 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $514,154,000 after purchasing an additional 1,331,294 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in Pembina Pipeline by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 6,950,836 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $277,985,000 after purchasing an additional 161,114 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Scotia Capital Inc. increased its holdings in Pembina Pipeline by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 5,230,781 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $208,856,000 after purchasing an additional 260,804 shares in the last quarter. 55.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PBA has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Pembina Pipeline from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Pembina Pipeline in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. National Bankshares raised shares of Pembina Pipeline from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Pembina Pipeline from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, National Bank Financial raised shares of Pembina Pipeline from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Pembina Pipeline currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $56.00.

Pembina Pipeline Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of PBA stock traded up $0.2170 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $38.0570. 1,871,528 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,331,929. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.77. Pembina Pipeline Corp. has a one year low of $34.13 and a one year high of $43.44. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $37.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.87 and a beta of 0.78.

Pembina Pipeline Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.5%. This is a positive change from Pembina Pipeline's previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. Pembina Pipeline's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 97.18%.

About Pembina Pipeline

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.