Strategic Financial Concepts LLC Lowers Stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Strategic Financial Concepts LLC cut its stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 8.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,646 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,784 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $998,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mplx in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Rossby Financial LCC purchased a new stake in Mplx in the first quarter worth about $33,000. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Mplx in the first quarter worth about $37,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Mplx during the 1st quarter worth about $48,000. Finally, Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new position in Mplx during the 4th quarter valued at about $56,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Mplx Trading Up 0.5%

Mplx stock opened at $51.02 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.08. The stock has a market cap of $52.08 billion, a PE ratio of 11.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $51.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $51.14. Mplx Lp has a one year low of $39.95 and a one year high of $54.87.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.15 billion. Mplx had a net margin of 36.34% and a return on equity of 32.08%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th were paid a dividend of $0.9565 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 9th. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.50%. Mplx’s payout ratio is currently 88.45%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MPLX. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Barclays lowered 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.