Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Makes New $223,000 Investment in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 4,661 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $223,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. PFG Investments LLC grew its stake in Mplx by 38.5% in the 4th quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 38,506 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,843,000 after acquiring an additional 10,705 shares in the last quarter. Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 479.6% in the fourth quarter. Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC now owns 153,600 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $7,351,000 after purchasing an additional 127,100 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Mplx by 9,134.1% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 11,635 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $557,000 after purchasing an additional 11,509 shares in the last quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT raised its position in Mplx by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT now owns 1,506,962 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $72,123,000 after purchasing an additional 8,166 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 5,070.0% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 977,794 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $46,797,000 after buying an additional 958,881 shares during the period. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Shawn M. Lyon acquired 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $52.75 per share, with a total value of $211,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the vice president now directly owns 25,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,334,522.25. This represents a 18.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Mplx Price Performance

NYSE MPLX opened at $49.03 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $50.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. Mplx Lp has a 12-month low of $39.84 and a 12-month high of $54.87.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.03. Mplx had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 36.18%. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 9th will be given a $0.9565 dividend. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 9th. Mplx’s payout ratio is currently 90.74%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Raymond James raised their price target on Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 2nd. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Mplx from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mplx currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.88.

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.