Pembina Pipeline Co. (NYSE:PBA) Short Interest Up 34.6% in May

Pembina Pipeline Co. (NYSE:PBA - Get Free Report) TSE: PPL saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,120,000 shares, an increase of 34.6% from the April 30th total of 3,060,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,260,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.3 days. Currently, 0.7% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Citigroup raised Pembina Pipeline from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $56.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pembina Pipeline

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 409,379 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in shares of Pembina Pipeline by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 14,247,662 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $526,451,000 after acquiring an additional 413,373 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Pembina Pipeline by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 13,930,847 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $514,154,000 after acquiring an additional 1,331,294 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in Pembina Pipeline by 78.1% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,088,945 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $283,770,000 after acquiring an additional 3,108,920 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position in Pembina Pipeline by 2.4% during the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 6,950,836 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $277,985,000 after purchasing an additional 161,114 shares during the period. 55.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Pembina Pipeline Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PBA traded down $0.02 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $37.75. The company had a trading volume of 864,174 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,358,941. Pembina Pipeline has a 12 month low of $34.13 and a 12 month 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 firm has a market cap of $21.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.60 and a beta of 0.81. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $37.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.95.

Pembina Pipeline (NYSE:PBA - Get Free Report) TSE: PPL last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The pipeline company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.47 billion. Pembina Pipeline had a return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 25.39%. The business's revenue was up 48.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.73 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Pembina Pipeline will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pembina Pipeline Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.5109 per share. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.41%. This is a boost from Pembina Pipeline's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Pembina Pipeline's dividend payout ratio is presently 89.14%.

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.