Sunbeam Capital Management LLC Invests $515,000 in Mplx Lp $MPLX

Sunbeam Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 10,310 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $515,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new stake in Mplx in the second quarter valued at about $776,894,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of Mplx by 8.3% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 9,873,619 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $508,590,000 after acquiring an additional 757,569 shares during the last quarter. Northside Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mplx during the second quarter worth about $30,497,000. Natixis increased its holdings in shares of Mplx by 1,585.3% during the second quarter. Natixis now owns 403,758 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $20,798,000 after acquiring an additional 379,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Merewether Investment Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Mplx in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $16,988,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Mplx Stock Up 1.4%

NYSE:MPLX opened at $55.54 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.31 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $53.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $51.60. Mplx Lp has a 1-year low of $44.60 and a 1-year high of $56.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $56.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.77 and a beta of 0.56.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.45. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.16 billion. Mplx had a net margin of 37.61% and a return on equity of 34.14%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 7th were paid a $1.0765 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 7th. This is a positive change from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.96. This represents a $4.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.8%. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 91.31%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MPLX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Mplx from $60.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (a-)” rating on shares of Mplx in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Barclays upped their target price on Mplx from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $57.00 price target on shares of Mplx in a research report on Monday, December 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mplx currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.00.

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.