Strategic Financial Concepts LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 8.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,430 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 1,517 shares during the quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $978,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of MPLX. Cedar Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Mplx during the 3rd quarter worth $51,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Mplx by 56.3% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,135 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mplx in the 4th quarter valued at about $98,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Mplx by 393.0% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,451 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $153,000 after purchasing an additional 2,751 shares during the period. Finally, Archford Capital Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Mplx during the 4th quarter worth approximately $200,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Mplx Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of Mplx stock opened at $54.63 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $55.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.42. Mplx Lp has a 52-week low of $38.44 and a 52-week high of $54.68. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $50.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 36.18%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.10 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.9565 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.00%. Mplx’s payout ratio is currently 90.74%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com cut Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Mplx from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mplx has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.11.

About Mplx

MPLX LP engages in the operation of midstream energy infrastructure and logistics assets, and distribution fuels services. It operates through the Logistics and Storage (L&S) and Gathering and Processing (G&P) segments. The Logistics and Storage segment transports, stores, distributes, and markets crude oil, asphalt, refined petroleum products, and water.