Legal & General Group Plc Acquires 83,284 Shares of Pembina Pipeline Corp. $PBA

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc increased its Pembina Pipeline stake by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, adding 83,284 shares to bring its total to 4,461,560 shares worth about $170.2 million.
• Pembina Pipeline received mixed-but-upbeat analyst sentiment, with recent upgrades from TD Securities and others; the consensus rating is now “Moderate Buy” with a $62.67 price target.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.735 per share, implying an annualized yield of 6.2%, while its latest earnings beat expectations with EPS of $0.59 versus $0.52 estimated.

Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in Pembina Pipeline Corp. (NYSE:PBA - Free Report) TSE: PPL by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,461,560 shares of the pipeline company's stock after acquiring an additional 83,284 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.77% of Pembina Pipeline worth $170,194,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PBA. MUFG Securities EMEA plc bought a new position in Pembina Pipeline in the 2nd quarter valued at $52,514,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Pembina Pipeline by 61.6% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,328,709 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $94,207,000 after acquiring an additional 887,413 shares during the last quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. grew its position in Pembina Pipeline by 12.6% in the 3rd quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 6,425,487 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $258,724,000 after acquiring an additional 717,773 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Pembina Pipeline by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,691,827 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,079,231,000 after acquiring an additional 576,845 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC grew its position in Pembina Pipeline by 295.7% in the 2nd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 320,909 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $12,037,000 after acquiring an additional 484,884 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 55.37% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PBA has been the topic of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Pembina Pipeline in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Pembina Pipeline from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. TD Securities upgraded Pembina Pipeline from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded Pembina Pipeline from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, May 10th. Finally, Barclays restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Pembina Pipeline in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Pembina Pipeline presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $62.67.

Pembina Pipeline Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of Pembina Pipeline stock opened at $47.55 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.68. Pembina Pipeline Corp. has a 1 year low of $35.45 and a 1 year high of $50.10. The firm's 50-day moving average is $45.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.10. The stock has a market cap of $27.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.76 and a beta of 0.58.

Pembina Pipeline (NYSE:PBA - Get Free Report) TSE: PPL last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.07. Pembina Pipeline had a net margin of 22.22% and a return on equity of 11.47%. The company had revenue of $1.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.06 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.80 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Pembina Pipeline Corp. will post 2.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pembina Pipeline Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.735 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. This is an increase from Pembina Pipeline's previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $2.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.2%. Pembina Pipeline's dividend payout ratio is 108.33%.

Pembina Pipeline 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.

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