FourThought Financial Partners LLC Raises Stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

FourThought Financial Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 3.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 69,749 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,114 shares during the quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $3,733,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MPLX. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in Mplx by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 5,724 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $274,000 after purchasing an additional 519 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL raised its position in shares of Mplx by 47.5% during the fourth quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 18,520 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $886,000 after buying an additional 5,965 shares during the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. raised its position in shares of Mplx by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 1,971,331 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $94,348,000 after buying an additional 37,845 shares during the last quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Mplx by 21.1% during the fourth quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 6,609 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $316,000 after buying an additional 1,150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its position in shares of Mplx by 16.6% during the fourth quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 20,120 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $963,000 after buying an additional 2,860 shares during the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mplx Trading Down 0.6%

MPLX stock opened at $50.99 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.49. Mplx Lp has a 52-week low of $39.95 and a 52-week high of $54.87. The firm has a market cap of $52.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.78, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.03. Mplx had a return on equity of 32.08% and a net margin of 36.34%. The company had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 9th were issued a dividend of $0.9565 per share. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.50%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 9th. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is currently 88.45%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $53.00 price objective (up previously from $52.00) on shares of Mplx in a research report on Friday, July 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.63.

About Mplx

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.