Signaturefd LLC Increases Holdings in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 53.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,632 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 1,605 shares during the quarter. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $170,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MPLX. Independent Advisor Alliance grew its position in Mplx by 405.7% during the third quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 47,395 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,686,000 after buying an additional 38,022 shares in the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. grew its position in Mplx by 18.9% during the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 28,771,793 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,023,413,000 after buying an additional 4,579,152 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. grew its position in Mplx by 60.6% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 2,028,514 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $72,154,000 after buying an additional 765,618 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Mplx by 99.8% during the third quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 236,365 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,408,000 after buying an additional 118,090 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY grew its position in Mplx by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 2,362,999 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $86,769,000 after buying an additional 65,380 shares in the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Mplx Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE MPLX opened at $41.95 on Monday. Mplx Lp has a 1-year low of $33.12 and a 1-year high of $42.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $40.60 and a 200-day moving average of $38.03. The firm has a market cap of $42.40 billion, a PE ratio of 11.01 and a beta of 1.35.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.15. Mplx had a return on equity of 31.85% and a net margin of 34.82%. The company 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 company posted $0.78 EPS. Mplx’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Mplx Lp will post 4.1 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 13th. Shareholders 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 yield of 8.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 2nd. Mplx’s payout ratio is 89.24%.

Mplx 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.