Howard Financial Services LTD. Buys 1,200 Shares of Mplx Lp $MPLX

Howard Financial Services LTD. lifted its stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,676 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 1,200 shares during the quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD.’s holdings in Mplx were worth $1,735,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rossby Financial LCC bought a new position in shares of Mplx in the first quarter worth about $33,000. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Mplx in the first quarter worth about $37,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Mplx in the first quarter worth about $44,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Mplx in the first quarter worth about $48,000. Finally, PSI Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Mplx by 32.5% in the first quarter. PSI Advisors LLC now owns 1,100 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 270 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on MPLX shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Barclays raised their price objective on Mplx from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Mplx from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Mplx from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Mplx presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.89.

Mplx Stock Performance

NYSE:MPLX opened at $51.04 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. Mplx Lp has a 12-month low of $43.35 and a 12-month high of $54.87. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $50.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $51.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.74.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.05). Mplx had a return on equity of 30.95% and a net margin of 35.44%.The business had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.15 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 8th were issued a dividend of $0.9565 per share. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 8th. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.97%.

About Mplx

MPLX LP engages in the operation of midstream energy infrastructure and logistics assets, and distribution fuels services. It operates through the Crude Oil and Products Logistics and Natural Gas and NGL Services segments. The Crude Oil and Products Logistics segment transports, stores, distributes, and markets crude oil, asphalt, refined petroleum products, and water.