Virtu Financial LLC Takes Position in Mplx Lp $MPLX

Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 20,322 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,085,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MPLX. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY raised its stake in Mplx by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 2,315,921 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $123,601,000 after acquiring an additional 57,247 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mplx by 126.0% in the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 43,234 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,307,000 after purchasing an additional 24,107 shares in the last quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH boosted its stake in shares of Mplx by 286.1% in the 4th quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 76,557 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,086,000 after purchasing an additional 56,729 shares in the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mplx by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 1,095,181 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $54,704,000 after purchasing an additional 47,037 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Mplx by 30.2% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 606,927 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $30,316,000 after purchasing an additional 140,697 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Mplx from $62.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Mplx from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Barclays increased their price target on Mplx from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 11th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Mplx from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.60.

Mplx Stock Down 0.1%

NYSE:MPLX opened at $56.78 on Monday. Mplx Lp has a one year low of $47.80 and a one year high of $59.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The company has a market cap of $57.62 billion, a PE ratio of 12.29, a P/E/G ratio of 5.45 and a beta of 0.48. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $55.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.92.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.15). The business had revenue of $2.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.09 billion. Mplx had a net margin of 36.38% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The company’s revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Friday, May 8th were issued a $1.0765 dividend. This represents a $4.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 8th. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is presently 93.29%.

About Mplx

MPLX LP (NYSE: MPLX) is a midstream master limited partnership that owns, operates and develops energy infrastructure primarily across the United States. The company provides a range of midstream services including the gathering, transportation, storage and distribution of crude oil, refined petroleum products, natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs). MPLX also operates processing and fractionation facilities and supplies logistics services that connect producers, refiners and end-use markets.

The partnership’s asset base includes pipelines, storage terminals, rail and marine facilities, natural gas processing plants and NGL fractionators.