Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) by 7.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 280,885 shares of the pipeline company's stock after acquiring an additional 19,320 shares during the quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Mplx were worth $12,488,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norden Group LLC bought a new stake in Mplx during the first quarter valued at about $356,000. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in Mplx by 4.2% during the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 55,589 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $2,310,000 after purchasing an additional 2,260 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in Mplx by 17.2% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 37,198 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,546,000 after purchasing an additional 5,469 shares during the period. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Mplx by 7.0% during the first quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 42,539 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,768,000 after purchasing an additional 2,778 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Mplx in the 1st quarter valued at $799,000. Institutional investors own 24.25% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Mplx from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group increased their target price on Mplx from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Mplx from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Mplx in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $43.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Mplx from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mplx presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $47.67.

Mplx Trading Up 2.3 %

NYSE MPLX traded up $1.02 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $45.34. The company had a trading volume of 3,109,778 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,821,327. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The company has a market cap of $46.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.37. Mplx Lp has a one year low of $35.07 and a one year high of $45.87. The company's fifty day moving average is $43.92 and its 200-day moving average is $42.46.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The pipeline company reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.96 billion. Mplx had a net margin of 35.95% and a return on equity of 32.68%. The business's revenue was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.91 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Mplx Lp will post 4.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be issued a $0.9565 dividend. This is a positive change from Mplx's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.44%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. Mplx's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.52%.

About Mplx

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.