Avalon Trust Co Boosts Position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Avalon Trust Co grew its holdings in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 23.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,711 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 324 shares during the period. Avalon Trust Co’s holdings in Mplx were worth $63,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. FourThought Financial Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Mplx by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC now owns 35,003 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,285,000 after acquiring an additional 3,867 shares during the period. SouthState Corp acquired a new stake in Mplx during the 4th quarter valued at $51,000. Savant Capital LLC grew its holdings in Mplx by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 14,020 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $515,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. increased its stake in Mplx by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 1,976,693 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $72,584,000 after buying an additional 8,500 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in Mplx by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 56,045 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,058,000 after buying an additional 4,907 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Mplx Stock Performance

MPLX traded up $0.02 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $41.12. 1,258,763 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,418,397. The stock has a market cap of $41.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.60 and a beta of 1.35. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Mplx Lp has a 12 month low of $33.12 and a 12 month high of $42.90.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The pipeline company reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.01). Mplx had a net margin of 34.96% and a return on equity of 31.70%. The business had revenue of $2.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.89 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.91 EPS. Mplx’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 13th. Stockholders 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 8.27%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 2nd. Mplx’s payout ratio is 87.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Mplx from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com lowered Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group upped their target price on Mplx from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Mplx from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Raymond James upped 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Mplx has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.11.

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.