VELA Investment Management LLC Buys 4,927 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

VELA Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 18.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 32,276 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,927 shares during the quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $1,545,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in Mplx by 56.3% in the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,135 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Mplx in the 3rd quarter valued at about $51,000. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new position in Mplx in the 4th quarter valued at about $98,000. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in Mplx by 25.1% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,576 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $134,000 after acquiring an additional 517 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in Mplx by 393.0% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,451 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $153,000 after acquiring an additional 2,751 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MPLX. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Mplx from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mplx presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.11.

Mplx Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of MPLX stock opened at $52.32 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $51.01 and a 200-day moving average of $47.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. Mplx Lp has a 12-month low of $38.44 and a 12-month high of $54.74. The firm has a market cap of $53.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.43, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.42.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.03. Mplx had a net margin of 36.18% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The company had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.10 EPS. Mplx’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.9565 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.31%. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is 90.74%.

About Mplx

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.