Creekmur Asset Management LLC Takes $728,000 Position in MPLX LP (NYSE:MPLX)

Creekmur Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MPLX LP (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 13,602 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $728,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MPLX. Welch & Forbes LLC bought a new stake in shares of MPLX during the first quarter worth approximately $216,000. Tectonic Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in MPLX by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 211,595 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $11,325,000 after purchasing an additional 6,157 shares during the last quarter. Prevail Innovative Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in MPLX by 685.5% in the 1st quarter. Prevail Innovative Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40,526 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $2,169,000 after purchasing an additional 35,367 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in MPLX by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 33,994 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,819,000 after purchasing an additional 1,781 shares during the period. Finally, Private Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in MPLX by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Private Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 257,559 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $13,785,000 after buying an additional 928 shares in the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and set a $53.00 target price (up previously from $52.00) on shares of MPLX in a research report on Friday, July 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MPLX currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $55.63.

MPLX Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MPLX traded up $0.24 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $50.76. The stock had a trading volume of 1,360,200 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,649,928. The company's 50-day moving average price is $51.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $51.38. MPLX LP has a fifty-two week low of $39.95 and a fifty-two week high of $54.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The company has a market capitalization of $51.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.73.

MPLX (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.03. MPLX had a return on equity of 32.08% and a net margin of 36.34%. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that MPLX LP will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MPLX Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th were paid a $0.9565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 9th. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.54%. MPLX's payout ratio is currently 88.45%.

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.