Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. Acquires 37,845 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. boosted its holdings in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,971,331 shares of the pipeline company's stock after buying an additional 37,845 shares during the quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. owned 0.19% of Mplx worth $94,348,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its position in Mplx by 5,070.0% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 977,794 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $46,797,000 after purchasing an additional 958,881 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Mplx in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,917,000. FMR LLC lifted its position in Mplx by 387.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 823,467 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $36,611,000 after buying an additional 654,500 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Mplx by 368.0% during the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 188,057 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $9,000,000 after buying an additional 147,872 shares during the period. Finally, Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mplx by 479.6% during the 4th quarter. Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC now owns 153,600 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $7,351,000 after acquiring an additional 127,100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 24.25% of the company's stock.

Mplx Price Performance

Shares of MPLX traded down $0.49 on Monday, hitting $53.55. The company's stock had a trading volume of 312,704 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,779,894. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $53.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $48.89. Mplx Lp has a fifty-two week low of $39.56 and a fifty-two week high of $54.87. The company has a market capitalization of $54.76 billion, a PE ratio of 12.71, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

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

Mplx Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a $0.9565 dividend. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.14%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. Mplx's payout ratio is presently 90.74%.

Insider Transactions at Mplx

In other news, VP Shawn M. Lyon acquired 4,000 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 25,299 shares in the company, valued at $1,334,522.25. This trade represents a 18.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MPLX. Barclays lifted their price objective on Mplx from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Mplx from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, March 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. One investment 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $54.00.

Mplx Company Profile

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.