Kovack Advisors Inc. Sells 6,884 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Key Points

• Kovack Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in Mplx Lp by 50.3%, owning 6,793 shares valued at $364,000 after selling 6,884 shares in the first quarter.
• Barclays raised its target price for Mplx stock from $52 to $53, with an "overweight" rating, as the stock has an average target of $55.63 and a "Moderate Buy" rating from analysts.
• Mplx recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.9565 per share, yielding 7.50%, with a payout ratio of 88.45%.

Kovack Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) by 50.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,793 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 6,884 shares during the period. Kovack Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Mplx were worth $364,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MPLX. AE Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Mplx in the 1st quarter worth $241,000. Wedbush Securities Inc. boosted its position in shares of Mplx by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 7,878 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $422,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp bought a new position in shares of Mplx in the 1st quarter worth $205,000. Fractal Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Mplx by 18.1% in 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. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of Mplx in the 1st quarter worth $444,000. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Barclays raised their price target on Mplx from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $55.63.

Mplx Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of MPLX traded down $0.33 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $50.99. The stock had a trading volume of 1,272,826 shares, compared to its average volume of 960,276. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $51.51. Mplx Lp has a twelve month low of $39.95 and a twelve month high of $54.87. The firm has a market cap of $52.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 9th were paid a $0.9565 dividend. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 9th. Mplx's dividend payout ratio is 88.45%.

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.