Inspire Advisors LLC Acquires New Shares in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Key Points

• Inspire Advisors LLC made a new investment in Mplx LP, acquiring 6,759 shares valued at approximately $362,000 during the first quarter.
• Mplx recently reported earnings of $1.10 per share for the last quarter, surpassing expectations, despite revenue of $2.89 billion falling short of analyst forecasts.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.9565, yielding 7.40% annually, with a payout ratio of 88.22%.

Inspire Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 6,759 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $362,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Mplx by 38.2% in the first quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 7,788,063 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $416,817,000 after purchasing an additional 2,153,490 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Mplx by 141.1% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,985,181 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $95,011,000 after purchasing an additional 1,161,714 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Mplx in the fourth quarter worth about $41,917,000. Neuberger Berman Group LLC grew its position in Mplx by 221.9% during the fourth quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 643,995 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $30,822,000 after buying an additional 443,910 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fractal Investments LLC grew its position in Mplx by 18.1% during the first quarter. Fractal Investments LLC now owns 2,256,503 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $120,768,000 after buying an additional 345,654 shares in the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Mplx Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of NYSE:MPLX traded down $0.70 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $51.80. 743,471 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,611,758. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.95, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.73. The business's fifty day moving average price is $51.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $51.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.08. Mplx Lp has a twelve month low of $39.95 and a twelve month high of $54.87.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.03. Mplx had a net margin of 36.34% and a return on equity of 32.08%. The company had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 8th will be given a $0.9565 dividend. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 8th. Mplx's dividend payout ratio is presently 88.45%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Barclays boosted their target price on Mplx from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Mplx presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $55.63.

Mplx Profile

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.