Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Raises Stake in Mplx Lp $MPLX

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 380.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 136,187 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 107,812 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Mplx were worth $7,268,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Solstein Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Mplx in the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Wiser Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in Mplx in the third quarter worth approximately $38,000. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Mplx in the third quarter worth approximately $39,000. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Mplx in the third quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Groesbeck Investment Management Corp NJ purchased a new stake in Mplx in the fourth quarter worth approximately $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Mplx Stock Performance

Shares of MPLX stock opened at $56.56 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.23. The company has a market capitalization of $57.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.73, a PEG ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 0.49. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $57.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $54.87. Mplx Lp has a fifty-two week low of $47.80 and a fifty-two week high of $59.98.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The pipeline company reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $5.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.23 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 34.37% and a net margin of 37.79%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.07 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Mplx Lp will post 4.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Friday, May 8th will be issued a dividend of $1.0765 per share. This represents a $4.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 8th. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is currently 89.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on MPLX. Barclays boosted their price objective on Mplx from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Raymond James Financial downgraded Mplx from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Mplx from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 11th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Mplx from $64.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mplx currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.00.

Mplx Profile

MPLX LP (NYSE: MPLX) is a midstream master limited partnership that owns, operates and develops energy infrastructure primarily across the United States. The company provides a range of midstream services including the gathering, transportation, storage and distribution of crude oil, refined petroleum products, natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs). MPLX also operates processing and fractionation facilities and supplies logistics services that connect producers, refiners and end-use markets.

The partnership’s asset base includes pipelines, storage terminals, rail and marine facilities, natural gas processing plants and NGL fractionators.