IFG Advisory LLC Grows Position in Mplx Lp $MPLX

IFG Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 23.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 29,756 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 5,571 shares during the quarter. IFG Advisory LLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $1,533,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rossby Financial LCC bought a new stake in shares of Mplx in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Private Trust Co. NA bought a new stake in shares of Mplx in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Aviance Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mplx by 18.2% in the 1st quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 12,974 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $694,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated lifted its stake in shares of Mplx by 9.8% in the 1st quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 8,555 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $462,000 after purchasing an additional 764 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of Mplx by 50.2% in the 1st quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 34,794 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,862,000 after purchasing an additional 11,633 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MPLX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Mplx from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. Barclays raised their price objective on Mplx from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Zacks Research lowered Mplx from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Mplx from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Mplx from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.50.

Mplx Price Performance

Shares of MPLX stock opened at $50.79 on Friday. Mplx Lp has a 52-week low of $44.07 and a 52-week high of $54.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.68. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $50.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $50.68.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 30.95% and a net margin of 35.44%.Mplx’s revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.15 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 7th will be issued a dividend of $1.0765 per share. This represents a $4.31 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 7th. This is an increase from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.96. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 102.14%.

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.