Opal Capital LLC Takes Position in Mplx Lp $MPLX

Opal Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 219,789 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,730,000. Mplx accounts for approximately 2.9% of Opal Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MPLX. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Mplx in the 3rd quarter valued at about $134,319,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Mplx by 23.7% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,763,110 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $307,577,000 after purchasing an additional 1,104,510 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of Mplx by 8.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 9,873,619 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $508,590,000 after purchasing an additional 757,569 shares in the last quarter. Merewether Investment Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Mplx in the 2nd quarter valued at about $16,988,000. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Mplx by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 7,060,024 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $352,648,000 after purchasing an additional 300,321 shares in the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mplx Stock Performance

Mplx stock opened at $56.03 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.10. Mplx Lp has a one year low of $47.80 and a one year high of $59.98. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $55.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $55.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $56.86 billion, a PE ratio of 12.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.34 and a beta of 0.48.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.15). Mplx had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 36.38%.The business had revenue of $2.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.10 earnings per share. Mplx’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Mplx Lp will post 4.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 8th were issued a dividend of $1.0765 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 8th. This represents a $4.31 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.7%. Mplx’s payout ratio is currently 93.29%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MPLX. Weiss Ratings lowered Mplx from a “buy (a)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Mplx from $64.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Mplx from $55.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Mplx from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Mplx from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.60.

About Mplx

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.