Chelsea Counsel Co. Grows Position in Mplx Lp $MPLX

Key Points

• Chelsea Counsel Co. has increased its stake in Mplx LP by 66.7%, owning 25,000 shares worth approximately $1.34 million after acquiring an additional 10,000 shares in the first quarter.
• Several other institutional investors, including Rossby Financial and JFS Wealth Advisors, have also made new investments in Mplx, indicating rising institutional interest in the company.
• Mplx recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.9565, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 7.6%, while its earnings report revealed a miss on EPS estimates.

Chelsea Counsel Co. grew its position in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) by 66.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 25,000 shares of the pipeline company's stock after buying an additional 10,000 shares during the quarter. Chelsea Counsel Co.'s holdings in Mplx were worth $1,338,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MPLX. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in Mplx by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 162,113 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $7,759,000 after acquiring an additional 16,574 shares during the period. Progeny 3 Inc. increased its position in shares of Mplx by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Progeny 3 Inc. now owns 1,036,859 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $49,624,000 after purchasing an additional 21,400 shares during the last quarter. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Mplx in the 4th quarter worth approximately $258,000. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 5.2% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming grew its position in Mplx by 368.2% during the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 6,864 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $329,000 after buying an additional 5,398 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 24.25% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Mplx Price Performance

Shares of Mplx stock traded up $0.46 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $51.54. The company's stock had a trading volume of 623,435 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,583,980. The company has a market cap of $52.52 billion, a PE ratio of 12.24, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.03. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $50.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $51.15. Mplx Lp has a 12-month low of $43.53 and a 12-month high of $54.87.

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

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 8th were paid a dividend of $0.9565 per share. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 8th. Mplx's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.97%.

Mplx Company 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.