Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC Buys 54,700 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) by 18.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 349,962 shares of the pipeline company's stock after purchasing an additional 54,700 shares during the quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Mplx were worth $18,730,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Mplx by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 51,505 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $2,465,000 after purchasing an additional 3,172 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Mplx during the fourth quarter worth about $286,000. US Bancorp DE increased its position in Mplx by 25.7% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 66,977 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $3,206,000 after buying an additional 13,709 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in Mplx by 1,067.7% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 5,932 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $284,000 after buying an additional 5,424 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in Mplx by 15.4% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 53,827 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $2,576,000 after buying an additional 7,196 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 24.25% of the company's stock.

Mplx Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MPLX opened at $50.91 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The firm has a market cap of $51.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.73. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $51.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $51.16. Mplx Lp has a one year low of $39.95 and a one year high of $54.87.

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

Mplx Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th were issued a dividend of $0.9565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 9th. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.52%. Mplx's dividend payout ratio is presently 88.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $52.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Mplx has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $55.50.

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.

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