Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Increases Stock Position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its holdings in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 24.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,284 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,621 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Mplx were worth $443,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MPLX. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Mplx by 38.2% during the first quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 7,788,063 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $416,817,000 after buying an additional 2,153,490 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Mplx by 141.1% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,985,181 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $95,011,000 after acquiring an additional 1,161,714 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Mplx in the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,917,000. Neuberger Berman Group LLC grew its stake in Mplx by 221.9% in the 4th quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 643,995 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $30,822,000 after acquiring an additional 443,910 shares during the period. Finally, Fractal Investments LLC raised its holdings in Mplx by 18.1% in the 1st quarter. Fractal Investments LLC now owns 2,256,503 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $120,768,000 after acquiring an additional 345,654 shares during the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays increased their price target on Mplx from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.63.

Mplx Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of MPLX opened at $51.25 on Thursday. Mplx Lp has a twelve month low of $39.95 and a twelve month high of $54.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $51.61.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 31.04% and a net margin of 35.44%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.15 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.9565 per share. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 8th. Mplx’s payout ratio is currently 88.45%.

Mplx Company Profile

MPLX LP engages in the operation of midstream energy infrastructure and logistics assets, and distribution fuels services. It operates through the Crude Oil and Products Logistics and Natural Gas and NGL Services segments. The Crude Oil and Products Logistics segment transports, stores, distributes, and markets crude oil, asphalt, refined petroleum products, and water.