Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 17.0% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 108,988 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,807 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $5,833,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Griffin Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Mplx by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,752 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $682,000 after buying an additional 350 shares during the period. F&V Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Mplx by 58.1% during the first quarter. F&V Capital Management LLC now owns 12,250 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $656,000 after purchasing an additional 4,500 shares during the period. GraniteShares Advisors LLC increased its stake in Mplx by 6.5% during the first quarter. GraniteShares Advisors LLC now owns 54,761 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,931,000 after purchasing an additional 3,320 shares during the period. Birch Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Mplx by 1.8% during the first quarter. Birch Capital Management LLC now owns 31,044 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,661,000 after purchasing an additional 534 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Advisory Group Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mplx in the first quarter valued at approximately $346,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MPLX. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Wall Street Zen cut Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 2nd. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on Mplx from $55.00 to $52.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.50.

Mplx Price Performance

Shares of MPLX opened at $52.00 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.01, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.74. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.04. Mplx Lp has a twelve month low of $39.95 and a twelve month high of $54.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.15 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 32.08% and a net margin of 36.34%. Mplx’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 9th were paid a dividend of $0.9565 per share. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.36%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 9th. Mplx’s payout ratio is 88.45%.

Mplx Company 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.