JFS Wealth Advisors LLC Takes Position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

JFS Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 700 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in Mplx by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 6,904,477 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $330,448,000 after acquiring an additional 266,998 shares in the last quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON raised its holdings in Mplx by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 4,221,615 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $202,047,000 after acquiring an additional 79,799 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its holdings in Mplx by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 2,279,124 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $109,079,000 after acquiring an additional 108,228 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Mplx by 141.1% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,985,181 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $95,011,000 after acquiring an additional 1,161,714 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. raised its holdings 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 worth $94,348,000 after purchasing an additional 37,845 shares during the period. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mplx Stock Up 1.4%

MPLX stock opened at $51.86 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $51.03. The stock has a market cap of $52.94 billion, a PE ratio of 11.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.74. 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 Lp has a fifty-two week low of $39.95 and a fifty-two week high of $54.87.

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

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 9th were given a $0.9565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 9th. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.38%. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is presently 88.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $52.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, March 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.50.

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.