Forum Financial Management LP Acquires Shares of 61,770 Mplx Lp $MPLX

Key Points

• Forum Financial Management LP acquired a new stake of 61,770 shares in MPLX during Q4, valued at about $3.30 million, while several other funds also added positions and institutional investors now own 24.25% of the company.
• Analysts have an average rating of Moderate Buy with an average price target of $61.89, though recent research was mixed—Wells Fargo and Stifel raised targets while Wall Street Zen and Raymond James issued downgrades.
• MPLX pays a high dividend (annualized $4.31) yielding roughly 7.7% with a payout ratio near 89%, and it reported a quarterly EPS beat of $1.17 versus $1.10 plus 6.2% year-over-year revenue growth.

Forum Financial Management LP acquired a new stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 61,770 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $3,297,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. grew its position in Mplx by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 227,482 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $12,141,000 after acquiring an additional 9,100 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC grew its position in Mplx by 126.0% in the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 43,234 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $2,307,000 after acquiring an additional 24,107 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. bought a new position in Mplx in the 4th quarter valued at $366,000. CWM LLC grew its position in Mplx by 69.7% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 8,549 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $456,000 after acquiring an additional 3,510 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. bought a new position in Mplx in the 4th quarter valued at $403,000. Institutional investors own 24.25% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on MPLX shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded Mplx from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, April 11th. Raymond James Financial downgraded Mplx from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Mplx from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Mplx from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Mplx from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $61.89.

Mplx Price Performance

MPLX opened at $55.79 on Friday. Mplx Lp has a 12-month low of $47.80 and a 12-month high of $59.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $57.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $54.50. The company has a market capitalization of $56.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.57, a PEG ratio of 5.11 and a beta of 0.56.

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

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th were given a dividend of $1.0765 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. This represents a $4.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.7%. Mplx's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 89.21%.

Mplx Company 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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MPLX? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.