Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) Shares Purchased by Rockefeller Capital Management L.P.

Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) by 23.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 152,802 shares of the pipeline company's stock after acquiring an additional 29,368 shares during the quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P.'s holdings in Mplx were worth $7,313,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Heritage Trust Co acquired a new position in Mplx during the fourth quarter worth $316,000. Neuberger Berman Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mplx by 221.9% in the fourth quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 643,995 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $30,822,000 after purchasing an additional 443,910 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Mplx during the fourth quarter worth about $41,917,000. ELCO Management Co. LLC raised its stake in Mplx by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. ELCO Management Co. LLC now owns 95,208 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $4,557,000 after purchasing an additional 2,639 shares during the period. Finally, Texas Yale Capital Corp. boosted its holdings in Mplx by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Texas Yale Capital Corp. now owns 240,238 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $11,498,000 after purchasing an additional 2,660 shares during the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Mplx from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, March 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Mplx from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Mplx has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $54.00.

Mplx Stock Up 0.5 %

MPLX stock traded up $0.27 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $50.49. The company had a trading volume of 1,755,271 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,784,411. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $52.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $49.47. 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 Lp has a fifty-two week low of $39.84 and a fifty-two week high of $54.87. The company has a market capitalization of $51.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.11.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 firm had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.10 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.9565 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.58%. Mplx's dividend payout ratio is currently 90.74%.

Insider Transactions at Mplx

In other news, VP Shawn M. Lyon purchased 4,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $52.75 per share, for a total transaction of $211,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the vice president now owns 25,299 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,334,522.25. This trade represents a 18.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

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.