Royal Bank Of Canada Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Pembina Pipeline (NYSE:PBA) Stock

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada raised Pembina Pipeline’s price target from $64 to $68 and kept an outperform rating, implying about 47% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed overall: the stock has a consensus Hold rating and an average target price of $62.67, with several firms maintaining hold/neutral views despite some upgrades.
• Pembina Pipeline reported better-than-expected quarterly results, posting EPS of $0.59 versus $0.52 expected and revenue of $1.11 billion, even though revenue declined 7.7% from a year ago.

Pembina Pipeline (NYSE:PBA - Get Free Report) TSE: PPL had its price target hoisted by analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada from $64.00 to $68.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "outperform" rating on the pipeline company's stock. Royal Bank Of Canada's price target indicates a potential upside of 47.01% from the company's previous close.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on PBA. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Pembina Pipeline in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Pembina Pipeline from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. TD Securities reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Pembina Pipeline in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Pembina Pipeline from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Pembina Pipeline from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $62.67.

Pembina Pipeline Price Performance

PBA traded up $0.54 on Monday, reaching $46.26. The stock had a trading volume of 233,348 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,411,774. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $44.38 and a 200-day moving average of $41.07. The company has a market capitalization of $26.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.11 and a beta of 0.58. Pembina Pipeline has a fifty-two week low of $35.45 and a fifty-two week high of $46.73.

Pembina Pipeline (NYSE:PBA - Get Free Report) TSE: PPL last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.06 billion. Pembina Pipeline had a net margin of 22.22% and a return on equity of 11.52%. Pembina Pipeline's revenue was down 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.80 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Pembina Pipeline will post 2.18 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co raised its holdings in shares of Pembina Pipeline by 8.6% during the third quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 309,779 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $12,528,000 after acquiring an additional 24,400 shares during the last quarter. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Pembina Pipeline by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,274,336 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $124,621,000 after purchasing an additional 298,412 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp increased its position in Pembina Pipeline by 12.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 1,073,818 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $43,402,000 after buying an additional 120,272 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. lifted its holdings in Pembina Pipeline by 96.3% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 216,975 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $8,775,000 after buying an additional 106,419 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. lifted its stake in Pembina Pipeline by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 1,703,413 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $64,798,000 after acquiring an additional 40,944 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.37% of the company's stock.

About Pembina Pipeline

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.