Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) by 12.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 218,802 shares of the pipeline company's stock after purchasing an additional 24,379 shares during the quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC's holdings in Mplx were worth $10,472,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Mplx by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 593,566 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $28,408,000 after purchasing an additional 32,976 shares in the last quarter. Cascade Financial Partners LLC increased its holdings in Mplx by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Cascade Financial Partners LLC now owns 9,627 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $461,000 after purchasing an additional 420 shares in the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI bought a new stake in Mplx in the fourth quarter worth approximately $362,000. Objectivity Squared LLC increased its holdings in Mplx by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Objectivity Squared LLC now owns 89,125 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $4,309,000 after purchasing an additional 2,246 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Simplicity Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Mplx by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 162,749 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $7,789,000 after purchasing an additional 5,164 shares in the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Shawn M. Lyon acquired 4,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was bought at an average price of $52.75 per share, with a total value of $211,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the vice president now directly owns 25,299 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,334,522.25. The trade was a 18.78 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

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Mplx Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of MPLX traded down $0.74 on Thursday, reaching $52.37. The stock had a trading volume of 1,421,902 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,849,552. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.99. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $47.94. Mplx Lp has a 12-month low of $39.56 and a 12-month high of $54.79.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.07 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 36.18%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.10 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on MPLX shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Barclays raised their price objective on Mplx from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Mplx from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, March 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $53.10.

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.