Westover Capital Advisors LLC Buys New Stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Westover Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 13,500 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $575,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MPLX. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Mplx during the 4th quarter worth approximately $148,000. Anthracite Investment Company Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Mplx in the 4th quarter worth $1,102,000. Independent Advisor Alliance increased its holdings in shares of Mplx by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 48,242 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,771,000 after buying an additional 847 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its position in shares of Mplx by 489.2% during the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 66,846 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,455,000 after buying an additional 55,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 17,741 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $651,000 after acquiring an additional 642 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on MPLX shares. StockNews.com raised Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 11th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Mplx from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $47.00 price target on shares of Mplx in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $46.33.

Mplx Stock Performance

Shares of MPLX opened at $43.76 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $42.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.99. The stock has a market cap of $44.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.37. Mplx Lp has a one year low of $34.52 and a one year high of $43.82.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The pipeline company reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.17. Mplx had a net margin of 35.95% and a return on equity of 32.68%. The firm had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.96 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.91 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Mplx Lp will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.77%. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is presently 87.63%.

Mplx Company Profile

MPLX LP owns and operates midstream energy infrastructure and logistics assets primarily in the United States. It operates in two segments, Logistics and Storage, and Gathering and Processing. The company is involved in the gathering, processing, and transportation of natural gas; gathering, transportation, fractionation, storage, and marketing of natural gas liquids; gathering, storage, transportation, and distribution of crude oil and refined products, as well as other hydrocarbon-based products and renewables; and sale of residue gas and condensate.