Financial Advocates Investment Management Takes Position in Mplx Lp $MPLX

Financial Advocates Investment Management purchased a new position in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 7,027 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $362,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MPLX. Private Wealth Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Mplx during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mplx during the second quarter valued at $29,000. EQ Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Mplx during the second quarter worth about $31,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Mplx by 509.0% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 609 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares during the period. Finally, Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH acquired a new stake in shares of Mplx in the 2nd quarter worth about $39,000. Institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on MPLX shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Mplx from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Mplx from $60.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (a-)” rating on shares of Mplx in a research report on Monday. Barclays boosted their price target on Mplx from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Mplx from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.33.

Mplx Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MPLX opened at $53.66 on Friday. Mplx Lp has a 1 year low of $44.60 and a 1 year high of $54.87. The firm has a market cap of $54.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.37 and a beta of 0.71. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $50.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $50.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.31.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.45. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.16 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 34.14% and a net margin of 37.61%. Research analysts forecast that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 7th were issued a $1.0765 dividend. This represents a $4.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 7th. This is a positive change from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.96. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is currently 91.31%.

Mplx 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.