ARS Investment Partners LLC Buys Shares of 12,900 Mplx Lp $MPLX

ARS Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 12,900 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $664,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MPLX. Private Wealth Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Mplx during the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mplx during the second quarter worth $29,000. EQ Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mplx in the second quarter valued at $31,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Mplx by 509.0% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 609 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH purchased a new position in Mplx during the second quarter worth about $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on MPLX shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Mplx from $60.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Mplx from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. Zacks Research raised shares of Mplx from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Mplx from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Mplx from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mplx has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.67.

Mplx Price Performance

MPLX stock opened at $52.86 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.31. Mplx Lp has a 1 year low of $44.60 and a 1 year high of $54.87. The firm has a market cap of $53.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.20 and a beta of 0.71. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $50.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.73.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.45. Mplx had a return on equity of 34.14% and a net margin of 37.61%.The firm had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.16 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 7th were paid a $1.0765 dividend. This represents a $4.31 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.1%. This is a boost from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.96. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 7th. Mplx’s payout ratio is currently 91.31%.

Mplx 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.