12,494 Shares in Mplx Lp $MPLX Acquired by Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI purchased a new position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 12,494 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $644,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MPLX. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Mplx by 11.6% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 187,629 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $9,665,000 after purchasing an additional 19,445 shares during the period. Cedar Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Mplx in the 2nd quarter worth $118,000. Creative Planning boosted its position in Mplx by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 53,036 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,732,000 after buying an additional 1,133 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Mplx by 1.6% during the second quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 148,382 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $7,643,000 after acquiring an additional 2,335 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Mplx by 6.6% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,557 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $853,000 after acquiring an additional 1,021 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Mplx Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of Mplx stock opened at $52.86 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $50.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $50.73. Mplx Lp has a fifty-two week low of $44.60 and a fifty-two week high of $54.87. The firm has a market cap of $53.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.20 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.45. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.16 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 34.14% and a net margin of 37.61%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 7th were issued a $1.0765 dividend. This is a boost from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.96. This represents a $4.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 7th. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is presently 91.31%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MPLX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays increased their price target on Mplx from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Wall Street Zen lowered Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Mplx from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Mplx from $60.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Mplx from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Mplx currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.67.

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.