Nomura Holdings Inc. Makes New Investment in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 1,831,500 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,253,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in Mplx by 1.3% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 37,143 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,321,000 after buying an additional 485 shares in the last quarter. Pathstone Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mplx during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $282,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Mplx by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 117,997 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,197,000 after acquiring an additional 7,465 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Mplx by 452.1% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 254,868 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $9,066,000 after purchasing an additional 208,701 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake in Mplx by 11.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 372,237 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $13,240,000 after purchasing an additional 37,080 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Mplx from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Barclays boosted their price target on Mplx from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Mplx from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Mplx from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $45.11.

Mplx Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE MPLX traded up $0.10 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $41.11. 152,611 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,116,751. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.30. The stock has a market cap of $41.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.57, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.36. Mplx Lp has a 1-year low of $33.12 and a 1-year high of $42.90.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The pipeline company reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.01). Mplx had a net margin of 34.96% and a return on equity of 31.70%. The company had revenue of $2.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.89 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.91 EPS. Mplx’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Mplx Lp will post 4.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 13th. Investors of record on Friday, May 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.27%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 2nd. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 87.63%.

Mplx Company 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.