Wealthstar Advisors LLC Buys New Shares in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Wealthstar Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 13,645 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $653,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MPLX. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Mplx by 56.3% in the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,135 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Mplx in the 3rd quarter valued at about $51,000. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mplx during the 4th quarter worth about $98,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings 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 acquired a new stake in Mplx in the 4th quarter valued at about $200,000. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Mplx Price Performance

Shares of Mplx stock opened at $53.20 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.11. Mplx Lp has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $54.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $54.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.42. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.03. Mplx had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 36.18%. The business had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Mplx Lp will post 4.39 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a $0.9565 dividend. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.19%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. Mplx’s payout ratio is currently 90.74%.

Insider Activity at Mplx

In other Mplx news, VP Carl Kristopher Hagedorn sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.24, for a total transaction of $188,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,750 shares in the company, valued at $696,790. This represents a 21.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. StockNews.com cut shares of Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Mplx in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $43.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.11.

Mplx Profile

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.