CWA Asset Management Group LLC Raises Position in Mplx Lp $MPLX

CWA Asset Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 52.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,775 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,582 shares during the quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $1,803,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new position in Mplx in the third quarter valued at $134,319,000. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in Mplx by 8.3% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 9,873,619 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $508,590,000 after buying an additional 757,569 shares during the period. Natixis boosted its stake in Mplx by 1,585.3% in the 2nd quarter. Natixis now owns 403,758 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $20,798,000 after buying an additional 379,800 shares during the last quarter. Merewether Investment Management LP acquired a new stake in Mplx in the 2nd quarter worth about $16,988,000. Finally, Alps Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Mplx by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 26,409,654 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,319,162,000 after buying an additional 325,451 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Mplx Stock Performance

Mplx stock opened at $57.91 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $58.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.29 and a beta of 0.56. Mplx Lp has a 12 month low of $44.60 and a 12 month high of $59.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $56.94 and its 200-day moving average is $53.69.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The pipeline company reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $5.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.23 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 34.37% and a net margin of 37.79%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.07 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 9th were paid a dividend of $1.0765 per share. This represents a $4.31 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 9th. Mplx’s payout ratio is currently 89.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Mplx from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Mplx from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Mplx from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of Mplx from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (a-)” rating on shares of Mplx in a report on Monday, December 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.88.

Mplx Company Profile

MPLX LP (NYSE: MPLX) is a midstream master limited partnership that owns, operates and develops energy infrastructure primarily across the United States. The company provides a range of midstream services including the gathering, transportation, storage and distribution of crude oil, refined petroleum products, natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs). MPLX also operates processing and fractionation facilities and supplies logistics services that connect producers, refiners and end-use markets.

The partnership’s asset base includes pipelines, storage terminals, rail and marine facilities, natural gas processing plants and NGL fractionators.