Plains All American Pipeline Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:PAA)

Key Points

• Unusually high options activity: Traders bought 423,300 call options on PAA in one session, a 3,672% increase versus typical call volume (11,223), signaling large bullish bets or hedging flows.
• High-yield but high payout: Plains declared a quarterly dividend of $0.4175 (annualized $1.67) for a 7.3% yield, but the dividend payout ratio is about 100.6%, suggesting limited coverage.
• Weak quarterly results and neutral analyst view: PAA missed Q earnings (EPS $0.17 vs. $0.50 expected) with revenue down 12.2%; analysts' consensus is a "Hold" with a $22.08 target while the stock trades near ~$23.

Plains All American Pipeline Lp (NASDAQ:PAA - Get Free Report) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Traders bought 423,300 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 3,672% compared to the typical volume of 11,223 call options.

Plains All American Pipeline Price Performance

Shares of PAA traded up $0.38 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $23.02. The stock had a trading volume of 3,291,497 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,591,465. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.96. Plains All American Pipeline has a 52-week low of $15.69 and a 52-week high of $23.04. The company has a fifty day moving average of $21.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.53.

Plains All American Pipeline (NASDAQ:PAA - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 6th. The company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.33). Plains All American Pipeline had a return on equity of 10.76% and a net margin of 3.21%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.42 EPS. Plains All American Pipeline's revenue was down 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Plains All American Pipeline will post 1.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Plains All American Pipeline Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.4175 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 1st. This represents a $1.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.3%. Plains All American Pipeline's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 100.60%.

Institutional Trading of Plains All American Pipeline

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PAA. NewEdge Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Plains All American Pipeline during the 1st quarter worth approximately $260,000. Guggenheim Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Plains All American Pipeline by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 46,288 shares of the company's stock worth $848,000 after buying an additional 2,592 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Plains All American Pipeline by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 404,921 shares of the company's stock worth $7,418,000 after purchasing an additional 16,096 shares during the last quarter. Glenview Trust co acquired a new stake in shares of Plains All American Pipeline during the 2nd quarter worth about $404,000. Finally, HUB Investment Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Plains All American Pipeline by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 91,113 shares of the company's stock worth $1,669,000 after purchasing an additional 4,839 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.78% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on PAA. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Plains All American Pipeline from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Plains All American Pipeline from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and set a $19.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Plains All American Pipeline from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Plains All American Pipeline in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $23.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Scotiabank restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Plains All American Pipeline in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $22.08.

About Plains All American Pipeline

Plains All American Pipeline NASDAQ: PAA is a publicly traded energy infrastructure company that provides midstream services for crude oil and natural gas liquids (NGLs). The company’s core activities include gathering, transporting, storing and marketing hydrocarbons, using an integrated network of pipelines, storage terminals, rail and truck transloading facilities. Plains also offers logistics and marketing services that connect upstream producers with refiners, traders and export markets.

Plains owns and operates a portfolio of pipeline and terminal assets concentrated in major U.S.

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