Advantage Trust Co Takes $51,000 Position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Advantage Trust Co bought a new position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,400 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $51,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Alps Advisors Inc. grew its position in Mplx by 18.9% during the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 28,771,793 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,023,413,000 after purchasing an additional 4,579,152 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. raised its position in Mplx by 60.6% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 2,028,514 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $72,154,000 after buying an additional 765,618 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Mplx by 99.8% in the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 236,365 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,408,000 after acquiring an additional 118,090 shares in the last quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY boosted its position in Mplx by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 2,362,999 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $86,769,000 after acquiring an additional 65,380 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Advisors Inc. OK purchased a new position in Mplx during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,878,000. 24.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Mplx from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Mplx from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Mplx from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Mplx from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on Mplx from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.11.

Mplx Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MPLX traded down $0.12 during trading on Thursday, reaching $41.65. The stock had a trading volume of 1,647,558 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,157,559. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.73 and a beta of 1.35. Mplx Lp has a 52 week low of $33.12 and a 52 week high of $42.90.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The pipeline company reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.01). Mplx had a return on equity of 31.70% and a net margin of 34.96%. The firm had revenue of $2.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.89 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.91 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 13th. Investors of record on Friday, May 3rd will be given a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 2nd. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.16%. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 87.63%.

Mplx Company Profile

MPLX LP owns and operates midstream energy infrastructure and logistics assets primarily in the United States. It operates in two segments, Logistics and Storage, and Gathering and Processing. The company is involved in the gathering, processing, and transportation of natural gas; gathering, transportation, fractionation, storage, and marketing of natural gas liquids; gathering, storage, transportation, and distribution of crude oil and refined products, as well as other hydrocarbon-based products and renewables; and sale of residue gas and condensate.