Fortem Financial Group LLC Buys 3,501 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Fortem Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 14.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 28,101 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,501 shares during the period. Fortem Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $1,345,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MPLX. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Mplx by 11.7% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 15,925 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $678,000 after purchasing an additional 1,670 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Mplx by 10.8% in the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 98,066 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,177,000 after acquiring an additional 9,585 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC increased its stake in Mplx by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 14,636 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $623,000 after purchasing an additional 1,052 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of Mplx by 4,274.2% during the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 811,371 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $346,000 after acquiring an additional 792,822 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Mplx during the second quarter valued at $805,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Mplx Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:MPLX traded down $0.03 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $48.49. 875,136 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,664,719. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $47.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $44.63. Mplx Lp has a 1 year low of $36.76 and a 1 year high of $51.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.43.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.09 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 32.70% and a net margin of 36.77%. Mplx’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.89 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Mplx Lp will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a dividend of $0.9565 per share. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.89%. This is a positive change from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Carl Kristopher Hagedorn sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.24, for a total transaction of $188,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,750 shares in the company, valued at $696,790. The trade was a 21.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MPLX. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Mplx in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $43.00 target price for the company. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. StockNews.com raised shares of Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. One 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Mplx presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.56.

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.