Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Acquires 3,550 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 33,171 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,550 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Mplx were worth $1,475,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MPLX. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Mplx in the first quarter valued at about $41,000. CWM LLC grew its position in shares of Mplx by 73.3% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,066 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 451 shares during the last quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Mplx by 450.0% during the 2nd quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC now owns 1,100 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in Mplx during the second quarter valued at approximately $67,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Mplx in the second quarter valued at approximately $88,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays upped their price target on Mplx from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Bank of America began coverage on Mplx in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $43.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Mplx from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.44.

Mplx Stock Up 1.3 %

NYSE:MPLX opened at $47.02 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $44.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.73. Mplx Lp has a 1-year low of $35.31 and a 1-year high of $47.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.09, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.37.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released 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 company 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 quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.89 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.31 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a $0.9565 dividend. This is a boost from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.14%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Mplx’s payout ratio is currently 90.33%.

About Mplx

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.