AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 31,920 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $1,528,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its position in Mplx by 5,070.0% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 977,794 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $46,797,000 after buying an additional 958,881 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Mplx during the 4th quarter worth about $41,917,000. FMR LLC grew its stake in Mplx by 387.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 823,467 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $36,611,000 after buying an additional 654,500 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in Mplx by 368.0% in the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 188,057 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $9,000,000 after acquiring an additional 147,872 shares during the period. Finally, Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 127,100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 24.25% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Mplx

In other news, VP Shawn M. Lyon bought 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was bought at an average price of $52.75 per share, for a total transaction of $211,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the vice president now directly owns 25,299 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,334,522.25. This trade represents a 18.78 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on MPLX. Raymond James lifted their price target on Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. StockNews.com cut shares of Mplx from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Sunday, March 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Mplx from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $54.00.

Mplx Price Performance

Shares of MPLX stock traded up $0.34 on Friday, hitting $54.02. 1,177,742 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,785,474. Mplx Lp has a 12 month low of $39.56 and a 12 month high of $54.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a 50 day moving average of $53.07 and a 200 day moving average of $48.85. The stock has a market cap of $55.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.40.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. Mplx had a net margin of 36.18% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The company's revenue for the quarter 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, equities research analysts predict that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.9565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.08%. Mplx's payout ratio is 90.74%.

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.