B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Cuts Position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) by 73.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,289 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 60,370 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Mplx were worth $947,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. ING Groep NV increased its position in Mplx by 69.8% during the 3rd quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 6,628,400 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $294,699,000 after purchasing an additional 2,725,000 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its holdings in Mplx by 4,274.2% during the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 811,371 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $346,000 after acquiring an additional 792,822 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in Mplx by 387.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 823,467 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $36,611,000 after acquiring an additional 654,500 shares in the last quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. lifted its holdings in Mplx by 2.4% in the second quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 14,825,905 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $631,435,000 after acquiring an additional 353,324 shares during the period. Finally, CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT boosted its position in shares of Mplx by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT now owns 1,498,796 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $66,636,000 after purchasing an additional 217,674 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.25% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Carl Kristopher Hagedorn sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.24, for a total transaction of $188,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,750 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $696,790. This represents a 21.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on MPLX shares. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Mplx from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com downgraded Mplx from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Mplx from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $49.56.

Mplx Price Performance

Mplx stock traded down $1.29 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $46.41. 2,324,046 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,863,741. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $46.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $44.02. Mplx Lp has a 1 year low of $36.27 and a 1 year high of $51.94. The company has a market capitalization of $47.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.99.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.04). Mplx had a net margin of 36.77% and a return on equity of 32.70%. The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.89 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a dividend of $0.9565 per share. This is a boost from Mplx's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.24%. Mplx's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 90.09%.

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.