Transcend Capital Advisors LLC Raises Position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Transcend Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 48.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 9,255 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,004 shares during the period. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $340,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MPLX. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mplx during the third quarter worth about $33,000. PSI Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Mplx by 63.6% during the 4th quarter. PSI Advisors LLC now owns 900 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mplx in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mplx during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Rational Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mplx in the third quarter valued at $43,000. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on MPLX shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Mplx from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Mplx from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. StockNews.com upgraded Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Mplx from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Mplx from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.86.

Mplx Stock Performance

Mplx stock opened at $41.96 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $42.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.01 and a beta of 1.35. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $40.66 and a 200-day moving average of $38.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. Mplx Lp has a 52 week low of $33.12 and a 52 week high of $42.89.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The pipeline company reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.15. Mplx had a net margin of 34.82% and a return on equity of 31.85%. The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.88 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.78 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Mplx Lp will post 4.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 13th. Investors of record on Friday, May 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 2nd. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is presently 89.24%.

Mplx Company 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.