Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Takes Position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 2,071 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $88,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. PFG Investments LLC purchased a new position in Mplx during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,238,000. Caprock Group LLC purchased a new position in Mplx during the 2nd quarter valued at about $805,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its holdings in Mplx by 4,274.2% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 811,371 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $346,000 after purchasing an additional 792,822 shares during the period. Oxbow Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Mplx by 33.5% during the 2nd quarter. Oxbow Advisors LLC now owns 401,696 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $17,108,000 after purchasing an additional 100,853 shares during the period. Finally, Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. increased its holdings in Mplx by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 14,825,905 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $631,435,000 after purchasing an additional 353,324 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Mplx Stock Performance

Mplx stock opened at $43.78 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The company has a market capitalization of $44.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.28, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.37. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $42.37 and its 200 day moving average is $41.51. Mplx Lp has a twelve month low of $34.52 and a twelve month high of $43.82.

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

Mplx Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MPLX. Barclays boosted their price target on Mplx from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $47.00 target price on shares of Mplx in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Mplx from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, August 11th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $46.33.

Mplx 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.