BNP Paribas Financial Markets Boosts Stake in Mplx Lp $MPLX

BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 4.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,106,127 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 44,125 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned 0.11% of Mplx worth $59,034,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MPLX. Solstein Capital LLC acquired a new position in Mplx in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. EQ Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Mplx in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Wiser Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in Mplx in the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Groesbeck Investment Management Corp NJ acquired a new position in Mplx in the 4th quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, WFA of San Diego LLC acquired a new position in Mplx in the 2nd quarter valued at about $52,000. 24.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MPLX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Mplx from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Mplx from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Mplx from $55.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Wall Street Zen cut Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 11th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Mplx from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mplx has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.60.

Mplx Stock Performance

NYSE MPLX opened at $55.59 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71. The business’s 50 day moving average is $55.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $55.64. Mplx Lp has a 12-month low of $47.80 and a 12-month high of $59.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.03, a PEG ratio of 5.28 and a beta of 0.48.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.15). The business had revenue of $2.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.09 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 36.38%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.10 EPS. Research analysts expect that Mplx Lp will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 8th were paid a dividend of $1.0765 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 8th. This represents a $4.31 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.7%. Mplx’s payout ratio is 93.29%.

Mplx Company Profile

MPLX LP (NYSE: MPLX) is a midstream master limited partnership that owns, operates and develops energy infrastructure primarily across the United States. The company provides a range of midstream services including the gathering, transportation, storage and distribution of crude oil, refined petroleum products, natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs). MPLX also operates processing and fractionation facilities and supplies logistics services that connect producers, refiners and end-use markets.

The partnership’s asset base includes pipelines, storage terminals, rail and marine facilities, natural gas processing plants and NGL fractionators.