Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY Decreases Stock Holdings in Mplx Lp $MPLX

Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY cut its holdings in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 3.3% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,239,694 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 76,227 shares during the quarter. Mplx makes up 3.5% of Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY’s holdings in Mplx were worth $127,819,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Solstein Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mplx in the third quarter worth $25,000. EQ Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Mplx in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Wiser Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in Mplx in the 3rd quarter worth $38,000. Prosperity Bancshares Inc purchased a new stake in Mplx in the 4th quarter worth $43,000. Finally, Groesbeck Investment Management Corp NJ bought a new position in shares of Mplx during the 4th quarter valued at about $49,000. 24.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mplx Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of MPLX opened at $57.60 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $55.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $55.96. The company has a market cap of $58.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.47, a P/E/G ratio of 5.46 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71. Mplx Lp has a twelve month low of $47.80 and a twelve month high of $59.98.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.15). The firm had revenue of $2.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.09 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 36.38%.Mplx’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.10 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Mplx Lp will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 8th were given a dividend of $1.0765 per share. This represents a $4.31 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 8th. Mplx’s payout ratio is 93.29%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on MPLX shares. UBS Group raised 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. Weiss Ratings cut Mplx from a “buy (a)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Mplx from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Mplx from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Mplx from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.60.

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.