Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Acquires 89,918 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its holdings in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) by 852.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 100,462 shares of the pipeline company's stock after buying an additional 89,918 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC's holdings in Mplx were worth $4,467,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. boosted its holdings in Mplx by 2.4% in the 2nd 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 purchasing an additional 353,324 shares during the period. ING Groep NV boosted its holdings in Mplx by 69.8% in the 3rd 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 during the period. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP boosted its holdings in 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 valued at $255,003,000 after purchasing an additional 45,271 shares during the period. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Mplx by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 5,580,052 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $248,089,000 after purchasing an additional 34,659 shares during the period. Finally, Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY boosted its holdings in Mplx by 7.8% in the 2nd quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 2,571,817 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $109,534,000 after purchasing an additional 186,084 shares during the period. 24.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

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

Mplx Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of MPLX stock traded down $0.74 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $48.26. The stock had a trading volume of 1,401,989 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,842,194. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $46.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.68. Mplx Lp has a 52-week low of $35.51 and a 52-week high of $51.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.17 billion, a PE ratio of 11.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analysts' expectations of $3.09 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.89 EPS. Mplx's revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Mplx Lp will post 4.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a dividend of $0.9565 per share. This is a positive change from Mplx's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.93%. Mplx's payout ratio is presently 90.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on MPLX shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Barclays raised their price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. 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 report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on shares of Mplx in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $43.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mplx presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $49.44.

About Mplx

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.