Neuberger Berman Group LLC Raises Stake in Mplx Lp $MPLX

Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its holdings in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,095,181 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 47,037 shares during the quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $54,704,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mplx by 2.2% during the third quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 5,611,824 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $280,311,000 after purchasing an additional 120,216 shares during the last quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH acquired a new position in Mplx during the third quarter valued at $990,000. Bridges Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Mplx by 53.2% in the third quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. now owns 103,351 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $5,162,000 after purchasing an additional 35,869 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC acquired a new stake in Mplx during the 3rd quarter worth about $2,698,000. Finally, Natixis grew its position in Mplx by 1,585.3% during the 2nd quarter. Natixis now owns 403,758 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $20,798,000 after purchasing an additional 379,800 shares during the period. 24.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Mplx from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Raymond James Financial cut Mplx from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (a-)” rating on shares of Mplx in a report on Monday, December 29th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Mplx from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $57.00 target price on shares of Mplx in a report on Monday, December 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mplx currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.14.

Mplx Stock Performance

NYSE:MPLX opened at $58.64 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.64 billion, a PE ratio of 12.17, a P/E/G ratio of 5.26 and a beta of 0.56. Mplx Lp has a fifty-two week low of $44.60 and a fifty-two week high of $59.84. The company has a fifty day moving average of $55.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $53.11.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The pipeline company reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.07. Mplx had a return on equity of 34.37% and a net margin of 37.79%.The company had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.07 EPS. Mplx’s revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th were paid a $1.0765 dividend. This represents a $4.31 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is currently 89.42%.

About Mplx

MPLX LP (NYSE: MPLX) is a midstream master limited partnership that owns, operates and develops energy infrastructure primarily across the United States. The company provides a range of midstream services including the gathering, transportation, storage and distribution of crude oil, refined petroleum products, natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs). MPLX also operates processing and fractionation facilities and supplies logistics services that connect producers, refiners and end-use markets.

The partnership’s asset base includes pipelines, storage terminals, rail and marine facilities, natural gas processing plants and NGL fractionators.