Financial Counselors Inc. Decreases Stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Financial Counselors Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,156 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the period. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Mplx were worth $731,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mplx in the 1st quarter worth about $35,000. Pacifica Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Mplx in the 1st quarter worth about $41,000. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mplx in the 1st quarter worth about $41,000. Register Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mplx in the 1st quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, CWM LLC boosted 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 in the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mplx Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE MPLX opened at $42.44 on Thursday. Mplx Lp has a 12 month low of $34.47 and a 12 month high of $43.42. The company has a 50-day moving average of $42.33 and a 200-day moving average of $41.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a market cap of $43.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.37.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The pipeline company reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.17. Mplx had a net margin of 35.95% and a return on equity of 32.68%. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.96 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.91 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Mplx Lp will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.01%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is currently 87.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on MPLX. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $47.00 price objective on shares of Mplx in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Mplx from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Mplx from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $46.33.

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.