Fractal Investments LLC Grows Stock Position in MPLX LP (NYSE:MPLX)

Fractal Investments LLC lifted its stake in MPLX LP (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) by 18.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,256,503 shares of the pipeline company's stock after buying an additional 345,654 shares during the quarter. MPLX makes up about 16.8% of Fractal Investments LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Fractal Investments LLC owned about 0.22% of MPLX worth $120,768,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Rossby Financial LCC purchased a new position in shares of MPLX in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $33,000. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in MPLX in the 1st quarter valued at $37,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in MPLX during the 1st quarter worth $48,000. PSI Advisors LLC boosted its stake in MPLX by 32.5% during the 1st quarter. PSI Advisors LLC now owns 1,100 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA purchased a new position in shares of MPLX during the 1st quarter worth $65,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.25% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Barclays upped their price target on MPLX from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MPLX currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $55.63.

MPLX Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MPLX traded up $0.27 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $50.53. 1,077,838 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,650,261. MPLX LP has a 52 week low of $39.95 and a 52 week high of $54.87. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $51.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $51.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.73.

MPLX (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.15 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that MPLX LP will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

MPLX Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 9th were paid a $0.9565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 9th. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.57%. MPLX's payout ratio is 88.45%.

MPLX Company 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.