Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Acquires 1,338 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 3.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 44,894 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 1,338 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $1,996,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in Mplx by 47.4% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 51,740 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,150,000 after buying an additional 16,637 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE raised its position in shares of Mplx by 4.6% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 52,318 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,174,000 after purchasing an additional 2,300 shares during the period. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 223.2% in the 1st quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 2,214 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $92,000 after purchasing an additional 1,529 shares in the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Mplx in the 1st quarter valued at $275,000. Finally, Searle & CO. bought a new stake in Mplx during the 1st quarter valued at $224,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Mplx Stock Performance

Shares of MPLX opened at $46.00 on Wednesday. Mplx Lp has a one year low of $35.10 and a one year high of $47.62. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.60. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $46.95 billion, a PE ratio of 10.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.37.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last announced its earnings results 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). Mplx had a net margin of 36.77% and a return on equity of 32.70%. The business had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.89 EPS. Mplx’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be issued a $0.9565 dividend. This is a positive change from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.32%. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MPLX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price target on Mplx from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. StockNews.com cut Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Mplx from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Mplx from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Mplx in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $43.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.00.

Mplx 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.