Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC Purchases 268 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 1.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,701 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the period. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $876,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. lifted its position in Mplx by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 14,825,905 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $631,435,000 after buying an additional 353,324 shares during the last quarter. ING Groep NV increased its position in Mplx by 69.8% during the 3rd quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 6,628,400 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $294,699,000 after purchasing an additional 2,725,000 shares during the period. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Mplx by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 5,580,052 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $248,089,000 after buying an additional 34,659 shares during the period. Energy Income Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Mplx by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 5,224,918 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $217,148,000 after buying an additional 255,211 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in Mplx by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 5,200,759 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $216,144,000 after purchasing an additional 201,500 shares in the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Mplx Stock Performance

Shares of Mplx stock opened at $47.06 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $48.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. Mplx Lp has a 12 month low of $35.31 and a 12 month high of $47.62. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $44.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.71.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.04). Mplx had a net margin of 36.77% and a return on equity of 32.70%. The company had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.89 EPS. Mplx’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Mplx Lp will post 4.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a $0.9565 dividend. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.13%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This is an increase from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MPLX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Mplx from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Mplx from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com upgraded Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on Mplx in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $43.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mplx presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.44.

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.