Van ECK Associates Corp Buys 10,480 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 18.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 68,289 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,480 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Mplx were worth $3,268,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in shares of Mplx by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 60,475 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,689,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Mplx by 1.4% in the third quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 19,701 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $876,000 after buying an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. grew its position in Mplx by 2.0% during the third quarter. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 14,204 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $632,000 after acquiring an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. FORA Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Mplx by 2.2% during the third quarter. FORA Capital LLC now owns 15,320 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $681,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fidelis Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 9,032 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $396,000 after acquiring an additional 338 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Mplx Price Performance

Shares of MPLX stock opened at $53.76 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.99. Mplx Lp has a fifty-two week low of $38.44 and a fifty-two week high of $54.74. The firm has a market cap of $54.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.42. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $50.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.67.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.03. Mplx had a net margin of 36.18% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The business had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.10 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.9565 per share. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.97%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on MPLX shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Raymond James boosted their target price on Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays raised their price target on Mplx from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.11.

About Mplx

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.