Cerity Partners LLC Acquires 6,173 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) by 15.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 47,201 shares of the pipeline company's stock after buying an additional 6,173 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC's holdings in Mplx were worth $2,218,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Mplx in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Mplx by 56.3% in the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,135 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares during the period. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR acquired a new stake in shares of Mplx in the fourth quarter worth $56,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 139.6% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,785 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $85,000 after buying an additional 1,040 shares during the period. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new position in Mplx in the 4th quarter worth $98,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.25% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Mplx from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. StockNews.com downgraded Mplx from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, March 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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, Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Mplx presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $54.00.

Mplx Stock Performance

Mplx stock traded down $1.27 on Monday, hitting $49.30. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,773,655 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,784,369. Mplx Lp has a one year low of $39.84 and a one year high of $54.87. The firm has a market cap of $50.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $52.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $49.53.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last posted 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.07 billion. Mplx had a net margin of 36.18% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.10 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The business 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 7.76%. Mplx's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.74%.

Insider Activity at Mplx

In other news, VP Shawn M. Lyon purchased 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, with a total value of $211,000.00. Following the acquisition, 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 SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

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.