Lee Financial Co Reduces Stake in Mplx Lp $MPLX

Key Points

• Lee Financial Co has reduced its stake in Mplx Lp by 57%, owning 7,372 shares worth approximately $395,000 after selling 9,770 shares during the first quarter.
• Several hedge funds, including Russell Investments Group Ltd. and Townsquare Capital LLC, have increased their positions in Mplx, suggesting a mixed sentiment among institutional investors.
• Mplx reported earnings per share of $1.03, missing consensus estimates, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.9565 with a yield of 7.6%.

Lee Financial Co trimmed its position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) by 57.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,372 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 9,770 shares during the quarter. Lee Financial Co's holdings in Mplx were worth $395,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of Mplx by 139.6% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,785 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $85,000 after acquiring an additional 1,040 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Mplx by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 6,958 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $333,000 after purchasing an additional 672 shares in the last quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 17,419 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $834,000 after purchasing an additional 1,179 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Mplx by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 23,110 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,106,000 after acquiring an additional 746 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. raised its position in Mplx by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,378,594 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $65,980,000 after purchasing an additional 161,901 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.25% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Mplx from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Mplx from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $56.11.

Mplx Price Performance

NYSE:MPLX opened at $50.02 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $50.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.73. Mplx Lp has a 12-month low of $41.80 and a 12-month high of $54.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The company's 50-day moving average is $51.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $51.53.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last announced 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). The firm had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 30.95% and a net margin of 35.44%. The firm's revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.15 EPS. Research analysts expect that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 8th were given a $0.9565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 8th. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.6%. Mplx's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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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