Dividend Assets Capital LLC Increases Stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Dividend Assets Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 71,434 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 1,595 shares during the period. Dividend Assets Capital LLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $3,419,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its holdings in Mplx by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,568,200 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $75,054,000 after buying an additional 17,900 shares during the last quarter. Mattern Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mplx in the 4th quarter valued at about $206,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Mplx by 16.0% during the 4th quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,084 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $626,000 after acquiring an additional 1,802 shares in the last quarter. Hardy Reed LLC raised its position in shares of Mplx by 24.4% during the 4th quarter. Hardy Reed LLC now owns 15,270 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $731,000 after acquiring an additional 3,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new position in Mplx in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $219,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Mplx Stock Performance

Shares of MPLX stock opened at $53.40 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $50.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $46.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $54.40 billion, a PE ratio of 12.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.42. Mplx Lp has a 52-week low of $38.44 and a 52-week high of $54.74.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.03. Mplx had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 36.18%. The business had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.9565 dividend. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.97%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Mplx from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.11.

Mplx Profile

MPLX LP engages in the operation of midstream energy infrastructure and logistics assets, and distribution fuels services. It operates through the Logistics and Storage (L&S) and Gathering and Processing (G&P) segments. The Logistics and Storage segment transports, stores, distributes, and markets crude oil, asphalt, refined petroleum products, and water.