ING Groep NV Lowers Stock Holdings in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

ING Groep NV lowered its position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) by 30.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,625,600 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 2,002,800 shares during the period. Mplx accounts for approximately 1.5% of ING Groep NV's portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. ING Groep NV owned 0.45% of Mplx worth $221,381,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. PFG Investments LLC increased its holdings in Mplx by 38.5% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Mplx by 479.6% in 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. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Mplx by 387.5% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 23,543 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,047,000 after acquiring an additional 18,714 shares during the period. Glenmede Trust Co. NA boosted its stake in Mplx by 7.2% during the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 149,509 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $6,647,000 after acquiring an additional 10,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Mplx by 7.4% in the third quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 280,885 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $12,488,000 after purchasing an additional 19,320 shares during the period. 24.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MPLX. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. StockNews.com raised shares of Mplx from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday. Truist Financial increased their price target on Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $52.11.

Mplx Stock Performance

MPLX stock traded down $0.19 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $53.19. 1,399,443 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,834,943. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.19 billion, a PE ratio of 12.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $50.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $46.93. Mplx Lp has a 52 week low of $38.44 and a 52 week high of $54.74. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 period in the previous year, the company posted $1.10 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.9565 per share. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.19%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. Mplx's dividend 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.