Americana Partners LLC Purchases 211,694 Shares of Mplx Lp $MPLX

Key Points

• Americana Partners LLC boosted its MPLX stake by 38.6% in the fourth quarter, buying 211,694 additional shares and bringing its total to 760,306 shares worth about $40.6 million.
• Analysts remain mixed on MPLX: the stock has a Moderate Buy consensus with an average price target of $61.60, though some firms recently raised targets while others issued downgrades.
• MPLX reported weaker-than-expected earnings for the latest quarter, with EPS of $0.90 versus $1.05 expected, but it still pays a 7.6% dividend yield with an annualized payout of $4.31 per share.

Americana Partners LLC increased its position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) by 38.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 760,306 shares of the pipeline company's stock after acquiring an additional 211,694 shares during the quarter. Mplx comprises about 1.1% of Americana Partners LLC's holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Americana Partners LLC owned 0.07% of Mplx worth $40,578,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MPLX. Belfer Management LLC raised its holdings in Mplx by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Belfer Management LLC now owns 7,849 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $419,000 after buying an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Mplx by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,736 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $520,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Wealthstar Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Mplx by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Wealthstar Advisors LLC now owns 12,598 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $672,000 after buying an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY raised its holdings in Mplx by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY now owns 5,198 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $260,000 after buying an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Burford Brothers Inc. raised its holdings in Mplx by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Burford Brothers Inc. now owns 17,449 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $931,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on MPLX. Citigroup upped their price target on Mplx from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Mplx from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Barclays upped their price target on Mplx from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Weiss Ratings lowered Mplx from a "buy (a)" rating to a "buy (a-)" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Mplx from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $61.60.

Mplx Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MPLX opened at $56.47 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $56.25 and a 200 day moving average of $55.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.28 and a beta of 0.49. Mplx Lp has a 12-month low of $47.80 and a 12-month high of $59.98.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.15). Mplx had a net margin of 36.38% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The business had revenue of $2.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.10 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 8th were given a $1.0765 dividend. This represents a $4.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 8th. Mplx's dividend payout ratio is presently 93.29%.

Mplx Profile

MPLX LP NYSE: MPLX is a midstream master limited partnership that owns, operates and develops energy infrastructure primarily across the United States. The company provides a range of midstream services including the gathering, transportation, storage and distribution of crude oil, refined petroleum products, natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs). MPLX also operates processing and fractionation facilities and supplies logistics services that connect producers, refiners and end-use markets.

The partnership's asset base includes pipelines, storage terminals, rail and marine facilities, natural gas processing plants and NGL fractionators.

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