Somerset Trust Co Purchases New Stake in Mplx Lp $MPLX

Key Points

• Somerset Trust Co acquired 5,120 shares of MPLX LP, valued at approximately $264,000, marking the trust's new position in the company during the second quarter.
• Investment analysts have generally rated MPLX as a "Moderate Buy," with a consensus price target of $55.89; recent upgrades have raised price targets from $52.00 to $60.00.
• MPLX announced a quarterly dividend of $0.9565 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 7.5%, with a payout ratio currently at 90.97%.

Somerset Trust Co acquired a new position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 5,120 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $264,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 883,566 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $42,288,000 after buying an additional 43,972 shares during the period. State of Wyoming raised its holdings in shares of Mplx by 368.2% in the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 6,864 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $329,000 after purchasing an additional 5,398 shares during the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Mplx by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 2,279,124 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $109,079,000 after purchasing an additional 108,228 shares during the last quarter. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. grew its stake in Mplx by 15.4% during the fourth quarter. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. now owns 58,775 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $2,813,000 after buying an additional 7,822 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Heartland Consultants Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Mplx by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. First Heartland Consultants Inc. now owns 9,857 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $472,000 after purchasing an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mplx Stock Performance

Shares of MPLX traded down $0.18 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $50.57. 309,986 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,576,816. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The business's 50-day moving average price is $50.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $51.11. Mplx Lp has a twelve month low of $43.53 and a twelve month high of $54.87. The company has a market capitalization of $51.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.00, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.74.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.05). Mplx had a net margin of 35.44% and a return on equity of 30.95%. The company had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.15 EPS. Mplx's quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 8th were given a $0.9565 dividend. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 8th. Mplx's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MPLX has been the subject of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Mplx from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Barclays increased their target price on Mplx from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Mplx from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Mplx from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $55.89.

About Mplx

MPLX LP engages in the operation of midstream energy infrastructure and logistics assets, and distribution fuels services. It operates through the Crude Oil and Products Logistics and Natural Gas and NGL Services segments. The Crude Oil and Products Logistics segment transports, stores, distributes, and markets crude oil, asphalt, refined petroleum products, and water.