Virtu Financial LLC Buys Shares of 33,592 Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 33,592 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,396,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Raymond James & Associates raised its position in shares of Mplx by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 367,586 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $13,498,000 after acquiring an additional 4,189 shares in the last quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Mplx by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 8,675 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $319,000 after acquiring an additional 697 shares in the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC raised its position in shares of Mplx by 38.4% in the 4th quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 58,935 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,164,000 after acquiring an additional 16,350 shares in the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. increased its position in Mplx by 104.4% in the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 2,349 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $86,000 after buying an additional 1,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Birch Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Mplx in the 4th quarter valued at about $599,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MPLX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Mplx from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Barclays lifted their price target on Mplx from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Mplx from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Mplx from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mplx presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $45.75.

Mplx Stock Performance

MPLX stock traded down $0.46 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $42.12. 2,076,946 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,970,417. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $41.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.72. Mplx Lp has a 52 week low of $34.32 and a 52 week high of $43.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.80 billion, a PE ratio of 10.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.37.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The pipeline company reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $2.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.89 billion. Mplx had a net margin of 34.96% and a return on equity of 31.70%. The company’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.91 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.02 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th will be issued a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 9th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.07%. Mplx’s payout ratio is currently 87.63%.

About Mplx

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.