Strategic Blueprint LLC Cuts Stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Strategic Blueprint LLC reduced its stake in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 15.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,839 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 907 shares during the period. Strategic Blueprint LLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $215,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MPLX. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mplx by 4,274.2% during the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 811,371 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $346,000 after buying an additional 792,822 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in shares of Mplx by 53.9% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,826,484 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $75,909,000 after buying an additional 639,851 shares during the period. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. lifted its stake in shares of Mplx by 2.4% during the second quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 14,825,905 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $631,435,000 after buying an additional 353,324 shares during the period. Energy Income Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mplx by 5.1% during the first quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 5,224,918 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $217,148,000 after buying an additional 255,211 shares during the period. Finally, CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT lifted its stake in shares of Mplx by 17.0% during the third quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT now owns 1,498,796 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $66,636,000 after buying an additional 217,674 shares during the period. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on MPLX shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Mplx in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $43.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Mplx from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Mplx from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Mplx from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mplx currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.67.

Mplx Stock Performance

NYSE:MPLX opened at $44.20 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.73, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.37. The company’s 50-day moving average is $43.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.37. Mplx Lp has a 1-year low of $35.06 and a 1-year high of $45.24.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The pipeline company reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.17. Mplx had a net margin of 35.95% and a return on equity of 32.68%. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.96 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.91 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Mplx Lp will post 4.3 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be given a dividend of $0.9565 per share. This is an increase from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.66%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.52%.

Mplx 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.