Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Reduces Stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System cut its position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 310,943 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 7,884 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System's holdings in Mplx were worth $14,882,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cedar Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Mplx during the third quarter worth $51,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Mplx by 56.3% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR acquired a new position in shares of Mplx in the 4th quarter valued at $56,000. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mplx in the 4th quarter valued at $98,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of Mplx by 25.1% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,576 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $134,000 after purchasing an additional 517 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.25% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mplx news, VP Shawn M. Lyon acquired 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $52.75 per share, for a total transaction of $211,000.00. Following the acquisition, the vice president now owns 25,299 shares in the company, valued at $1,334,522.25. The trade was a 18.78 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Mplx Stock Down 0.7 %

NYSE MPLX traded down $0.39 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $53.68. 5,142,755 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,748,788. The company has a 50 day moving average of $52.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $48.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. Mplx Lp has a 52-week low of $39.56 and a 52-week high of $54.87. The firm has a market cap of $54.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.75, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.40.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.10 EPS. Mplx's revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.9565 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.13%. Mplx's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 90.74%.

Mplx 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.