Pembina Pipeline Co. (NYSE:PBA) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Pembina Pipeline Co. (NYSE:PBA - Get Free Report) TSE: PPL saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 8,810,000 shares, a decrease of 61.4% from the March 15th total of 22,840,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,500,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.9 days. Currently, 1.5% of the company's shares are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on PBA. Citigroup upgraded shares of Pembina Pipeline from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. TD Securities began coverage on Pembina Pipeline in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Pembina Pipeline currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $56.00.

Institutional Trading of Pembina Pipeline

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PBA. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its holdings in shares of Pembina Pipeline by 11.7% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 2,935 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $108,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of Pembina Pipeline by 23.2% in the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,769 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Pembina Pipeline by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 22,903 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $846,000 after acquiring an additional 348 shares during the period. Albert D Mason Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Pembina Pipeline by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Albert D Mason Inc. now owns 43,073 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,724,000 after acquiring an additional 426 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its stake in Pembina Pipeline by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 9,883 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $365,000 after acquiring an additional 430 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.37% of the company's stock.

Pembina Pipeline Stock Up 1.5 %

NYSE:PBA traded up $0.57 on Friday, hitting $37.96. 1,004,607 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,273,946. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $37.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.86. Pembina Pipeline has a 52 week low of $34.13 and a 52 week high of $43.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.51. The company has a market cap of $22.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.69 and a beta of 0.89.

Pembina Pipeline Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th were issued a dividend of $0.4783 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $1.91 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.04%. Pembina Pipeline's payout ratio is 86.76%.

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.