Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) Holdings Boosted by Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. grew its stake in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 104.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,349 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,200 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Mplx were worth $86,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. DAVENPORT & Co LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mplx by 38.4% during the 4th quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 58,935 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,164,000 after acquiring an additional 16,350 shares in the last quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mplx by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 8,675 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $319,000 after acquiring an additional 697 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Mplx by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 152,949 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $5,616,000 after acquiring an additional 10,000 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mplx during the 4th quarter valued at $561,000. Finally, Inscription Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mplx by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Inscription Capital LLC now owns 16,686 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $613,000 after acquiring an additional 675 shares in the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on MPLX shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Mplx from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Mplx from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Mplx from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $42.71.

Mplx Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of MPLX opened at $42.35 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.12 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.07. Mplx Lp has a 52 week low of $33.12 and a 52 week high of $42.46.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The pipeline company reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.88 billion. Mplx had a net margin of 34.82% and a return on equity of 31.85%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.78 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Mplx Lp will post 4 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 5th were paid a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 2nd. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.03%. Mplx’s payout ratio is currently 89.24%.

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.