Clear Trail Advisors LLC Takes $1.60 Million Position in Mplx Lp $MPLX

Key Points

• Clear Trail Advisors opened a new position in Mplx, buying 30,030 shares in Q4 worth approximately $1.60 million.
• MPLX reported a quarterly EPS of $1.17 (beating estimates) with revenue of $5.99 billion, and recently paid a quarterly dividend of $1.0765 (annualized $4.31) for a yield of 7.4% and a payout ratio of 89.4%.
• Analysts have a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” with a consensus price target of $60.88, and several firms (including Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley and Stifel) recently raised their targets.

Clear Trail Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 30,030 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $1,603,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Mplx by 2.2% during the third quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 5,611,824 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $280,311,000 after acquiring an additional 120,216 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC acquired a new position in Mplx in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,698,000. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH acquired a new position in Mplx in the third quarter valued at approximately $990,000. Bridges Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Mplx by 53.2% in the 3rd quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. now owns 103,351 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $5,162,000 after purchasing an additional 35,869 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis boosted its position in Mplx by 1,585.3% in the 2nd quarter. Natixis now owns 403,758 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $20,798,000 after purchasing an additional 379,800 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.25% of the company's stock.

Mplx Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of MPLX stock opened at $58.46 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The company has a market cap of $59.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.13, a PEG ratio of 5.29 and a beta of 0.56. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $57.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $53.74. Mplx Lp has a 1-year low of $44.60 and a 1-year high of $59.84.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The pipeline company reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $5.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.23 billion. Mplx had a net margin of 37.79% and a return on equity of 34.37%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.07 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 9th were given a $1.0765 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 9th. This represents a $4.31 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.4%. Mplx's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 89.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MPLX. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Mplx from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Mplx from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Mplx from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Mplx from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of Mplx from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $60.88.

About Mplx

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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