Wedbush Securities Inc. Purchases New Holdings in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Wedbush Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 7,608 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $364,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mplx in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Mplx by 56.3% during the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,135 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 409 shares during the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new stake in Mplx during the 4th quarter worth approximately $56,000. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Mplx during the 4th quarter worth approximately $98,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP grew its position in Mplx by 25.1% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,576 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $134,000 after acquiring an additional 517 shares during the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Mplx Stock Performance

MPLX stock opened at $48.28 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $52.68 and its 200-day moving average is $49.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The company has a market cap of $49.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.11. Mplx Lp has a twelve month low of $39.56 and a twelve month high of $54.87.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 36.18%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.10 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.9565 dividend. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.93%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.74%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Shawn M. Lyon acquired 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $52.75 per share, for a total transaction of $211,000.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 25,299 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,334,522.25. This represents a 18.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. StockNews.com lowered Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 2nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Mplx from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.00.

Mplx Profile

MPLX LP engages in the operation of midstream energy infrastructure and logistics assets, and distribution fuels services. It operates through the Logistics and Storage (L&S) and Gathering and Processing (G&P) segments. The Logistics and Storage segment transports, stores, distributes, and markets crude oil, asphalt, refined petroleum products, and water.