Pacer Advisors Inc. Purchases 634 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 1.2% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 53,827 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 634 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Mplx were worth $2,292,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Mplx in the fourth quarter worth approximately $67,253,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its position in Mplx by 4,274.2% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 811,371 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $346,000 after buying an additional 792,822 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in Mplx by 53.9% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,826,484 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $75,909,000 after acquiring an additional 639,851 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in Mplx by 23.4% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 3,028,327 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $111,200,000 after acquiring an additional 574,737 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its stake in shares of Mplx by 170.6% in the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 637,100 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $23,394,000 after acquiring an additional 401,700 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Mplx Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of Mplx stock opened at $44.88 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.37. Mplx Lp has a 52-week low of $34.52 and a 52-week high of $45.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.99. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.75.

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

Mplx Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.58%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. Mplx’s payout ratio is currently 87.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on MPLX shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $47.00 price target on shares of Mplx in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. StockNews.com downgraded Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Mplx from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Mplx from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Mplx from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, Mplx has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $46.56.

Mplx Company Profile

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.