Kercheville Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Kercheville Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 2.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 170,263 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,852 shares during the period. Mplx makes up approximately 3.7% of Kercheville Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Kercheville Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $9,112,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Mplx by 141.1% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,985,181 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $95,011,000 after purchasing an additional 1,161,714 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Mplx during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,917,000. Neuberger Berman Group LLC boosted its holdings in Mplx by 221.9% during the fourth quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 643,995 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $30,822,000 after purchasing an additional 443,910 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in Mplx by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 6,904,477 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $330,448,000 after purchasing an additional 266,998 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Global Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Mplx by 14.6% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Global Advisors LLC now owns 1,857,003 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $88,876,000 after purchasing an additional 235,977 shares in the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, March 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Barclays reduced their target price on Mplx from $55.00 to $52.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mplx presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.50.

Mplx Stock Down 0.7%

NYSE:MPLX opened at $51.52 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $50.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $50.98. Mplx Lp has a 52-week low of $39.95 and a 52-week high of $54.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.99. The company has a market cap of $52.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.74.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.03. Mplx had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 36.18%. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 9th were issued a dividend of $0.9565 per share. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 9th. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is 88.22%.

Mplx Company Profile

MPLX LP engages in the operation of midstream energy infrastructure and logistics assets, and distribution fuels services. It operates through the Crude Oil and Products Logistics and Natural Gas and NGL Services segments. The Crude Oil and Products Logistics segment transports, stores, distributes, and markets crude oil, asphalt, refined petroleum products, and water.