Obermeyer Wealth Partners Buys 5,476 Shares of MPLX LP (NYSE:MPLX)

Obermeyer Wealth Partners boosted its position in MPLX LP (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) by 18.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 35,181 shares of the pipeline company's stock after acquiring an additional 5,476 shares during the period. Obermeyer Wealth Partners' holdings in MPLX were worth $1,883,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of MPLX by 35.4% during the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 6,663 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $319,000 after buying an additional 1,743 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in MPLX by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 5,724 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $274,000 after acquiring an additional 519 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in MPLX in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,047,000. Aire Advisors LLC boosted its position in MPLX by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Aire Advisors LLC now owns 10,397 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $498,000 after purchasing an additional 802 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TrueMark Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MPLX in the fourth quarter worth $5,394,000. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

MPLX Stock Performance

MPLX stock traded up $0.27 on Tuesday, hitting $50.53. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,077,838 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,650,261. MPLX LP has a 1 year low of $39.95 and a 1 year high of $54.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The stock has a market cap of $51.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.73. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $51.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $51.44.

MPLX (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.15 billion. MPLX had a net margin of 36.34% and a return on equity of 32.08%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that MPLX LP will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MPLX Announces Dividend

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

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.