Intrepid Capital Management Inc. Takes Position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Intrepid Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 5,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $239,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MPLX. PFG Investments LLC grew its position in Mplx by 38.5% during the 4th quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 38,506 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,843,000 after purchasing an additional 10,705 shares during the last quarter. Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mplx by 479.6% during the fourth quarter. Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC now owns 153,600 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $7,351,000 after buying an additional 127,100 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mplx by 387.5% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 23,543 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,047,000 after buying an additional 18,714 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in Mplx by 9,134.1% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 11,635 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $557,000 after acquiring an additional 11,509 shares during the period. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in Mplx by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 1,276,828 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $56,768,000 after acquiring an additional 64,714 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Mplx Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of MPLX opened at $53.60 on Wednesday. Mplx Lp has a twelve month low of $39.56 and a twelve month high of $54.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.73, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.40. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $53.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $49.03.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 36.18%. The company’s revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.10 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.9565 per share. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.74%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on MPLX shares. StockNews.com downgraded Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Mplx from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Shawn M. Lyon acquired 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $52.75 per share, for a total transaction of $211,000.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 25,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,334,522.25. This trade represents a 18.78 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

About Mplx

MPLX LP engages in the operation of midstream energy infrastructure and logistics assets, and distribution fuels services. It operates through the Logistics and Storage (L&S) and Gathering and Processing (G&P) segments. The Logistics and Storage segment transports, stores, distributes, and markets crude oil, asphalt, refined petroleum products, and water.