Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Increases Stake in MPLX LP $MPLX

Key Points

• Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in MPLX LP by 0.6%, now owning approximately 1.34% of the company, valued at about $730.5 million.
• Several other institutional investors also boosted their holdings in MPLX, with Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP leading with a 38.2% increase during the 1st quarter.
• MPLX recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.9565, reflecting an annualized dividend yield of 7.6%, despite a net margin of 35.44% in its latest earnings report.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MPLX LP (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) by 0.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,649,224 shares of the pipeline company's stock after buying an additional 83,392 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned about 1.34% of MPLX worth $730,506,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP increased its stake in MPLX by 38.2% during the 1st quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 7,788,063 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $416,817,000 after buying an additional 2,153,490 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in MPLX by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 6,955,456 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $372,256,000 after purchasing an additional 50,979 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in MPLX by 14.9% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,045,968 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $270,060,000 after purchasing an additional 654,489 shares during the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its position in MPLX by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 2,279,124 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $109,079,000 after purchasing an additional 108,228 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fractal Investments LLC grew its position in MPLX by 18.1% during the 1st quarter. Fractal Investments LLC now owns 2,256,503 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $120,768,000 after purchasing an additional 345,654 shares during the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of MPLX from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of MPLX from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of MPLX from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. Finally, Barclays upped 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. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MPLX currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $55.89.

MPLX Stock Performance

MPLX opened at $50.54 on Monday. The business's 50 day moving average is $50.79 and its 200-day moving average is $51.24. The stock has a market cap of $51.51 billion, a PE ratio of 12.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. MPLX LP has a twelve month low of $42.29 and a twelve month high of $54.87.

MPLX (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). The company had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. MPLX had a net margin of 35.44% and a return on equity of 30.95%. The company's revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.15 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that MPLX LP will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

MPLX Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 8th were given a $0.9565 dividend. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 8th. MPLX's dividend payout ratio is 90.97%.

MPLX 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.

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