HighTower Advisors LLC Purchases 21,225 Shares of MPLX LP $MPLX

Key Points

• HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in MPLX LP by 3.6%, acquiring 21,225 shares to bring its total ownership to 614,791 shares valued at approximately $32.9 million.
• MPLX reported earnings per share of $1.03 for the latest quarter, which fell short of analysts' estimates of $1.08, alongside a revenue of $2.79 billion compared to expectations of $3.13 billion.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.9565 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 7.6% and a payout ratio of 90.97%.

HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in MPLX LP (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) by 3.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 614,791 shares of the pipeline company's stock after acquiring an additional 21,225 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC owned about 0.06% of MPLX worth $32,904,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of MPLX by 38.2% in the 1st quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 7,788,063 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $416,817,000 after acquiring an additional 2,153,490 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in MPLX by 14.9% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,045,968 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $270,060,000 after buying an additional 654,489 shares during the last quarter. Fractal Investments LLC boosted 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 buying an additional 345,654 shares during the period. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT grew its holdings in MPLX by 21.0% during the 1st quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT now owns 1,822,709 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $97,551,000 after acquiring an additional 315,747 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in MPLX by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 6,904,477 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $330,448,000 after acquiring an additional 266,998 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 24.25% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on MPLX from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Barclays upped their target price on MPLX from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of MPLX from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $56.11.

MPLX Stock Performance

Shares of MPLX stock traded down $0.18 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $49.24. 418,568 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,625,592. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.69, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.73. MPLX LP has a 12-month low of $41.83 and a 12-month high of $54.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $51.52.

MPLX (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.05). MPLX had a return on equity of 30.95% and a net margin of 35.44%.The firm had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.15 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that MPLX LP will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MPLX Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 8th were paid a $0.9565 dividend. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 8th. MPLX's payout ratio is currently 90.97%.

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.