Fortem Financial Group LLC Buys 3,501 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Fortem Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 14.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 28,101 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,501 shares during the quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $1,345,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cedar Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mplx during the third quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in Mplx during the second quarter worth $67,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Mplx in the second quarter valued at $88,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Mplx by 393.0% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,451 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $153,000 after acquiring an additional 2,751 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zhang Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mplx in the 3rd quarter worth about $202,000. 24.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Carl Kristopher Hagedorn sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.24, for a total transaction of $188,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $696,790. This represents a 21.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Mplx Price Performance

NYSE:MPLX traded down $0.03 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $48.49. The stock had a trading volume of 875,136 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,664,719. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.43. Mplx Lp has a one year low of $36.76 and a one year high of $51.94. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $47.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $44.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.09 billion. Mplx had a net margin of 36.77% and a return on equity of 32.70%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.89 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Mplx Lp will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a dividend of $0.9565 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This is a boost from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.89%. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on MPLX shares. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. UBS Group upped their price target on Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Mplx from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on Mplx in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $43.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.56.

Mplx Company 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.