Jones Financial Companies Lllp Boosts Stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) by 1,067.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,932 shares of the pipeline company's stock after acquiring an additional 5,424 shares during the quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp's holdings in Mplx were worth $284,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ING Groep NV grew its holdings in shares of Mplx by 69.8% in the third quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 6,628,400 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $294,699,000 after purchasing an additional 2,725,000 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Mplx by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 5,735,562 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $255,003,000 after buying an additional 45,271 shares in the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. increased its holdings in shares of Mplx by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 1,933,486 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $85,963,000 after buying an additional 90,793 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its position in shares of Mplx by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,568,200 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $75,054,000 after buying an additional 17,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT lifted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT now owns 1,506,962 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $72,123,000 after acquiring an additional 8,166 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 24.25% of the company's stock.

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Insider Buying and Selling at Mplx

In related news, VP Shawn M. Lyon acquired 4,000 shares of Mplx stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $52.75 per share, for a total transaction of $211,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 25,299 shares in the company, valued at $1,334,522.25. This represents a 18.78 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Mplx Stock Performance

NYSE:MPLX traded down $0.74 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $52.37. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,421,902 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,849,552. The firm's 50 day moving average is $51.95 and its 200-day moving average is $47.91. The firm has a market cap of $53.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.44, a P/E/G 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. Mplx Lp has a fifty-two week low of $39.56 and a fifty-two week high of $54.79.

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 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 business had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.10 EPS. The company's revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.9565 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.31%. Mplx's dividend payout ratio is currently 90.74%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MPLX. StockNews.com downgraded Mplx from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, March 2nd. Truist Financial increased their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mplx has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $53.10.

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.