Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Grows Stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its holdings in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) by 5.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 130,956 shares of the pipeline company's stock after purchasing an additional 7,171 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC's holdings in Mplx were worth $6,268,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MPLX. PFG Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mplx by 38.5% in the fourth quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 38,506 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,843,000 after purchasing an additional 10,705 shares during the last quarter. Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Mplx by 479.6% in the 4th quarter. Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC now owns 153,600 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $7,351,000 after acquiring an additional 127,100 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mplx by 387.5% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 23,543 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,047,000 after acquiring an additional 18,714 shares during the period. Glenmede Trust Co. NA boosted its position in shares of Mplx by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 149,509 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $6,647,000 after acquiring an additional 10,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in Mplx by 9,134.1% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 11,635 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $557,000 after purchasing an additional 11,509 shares during the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on MPLX. StockNews.com cut Mplx from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a 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. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. 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's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $54.00.

Mplx Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:MPLX traded up $0.34 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $53.70. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,310,259 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,749,591. The company has a market capitalization of $54.91 billion, a PE ratio of 12.76, 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 quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.99. Mplx Lp has a fifty-two week low of $39.56 and a fifty-two week high of $54.87. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $52.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $48.66.

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. The company had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 36.18%. Mplx's revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.10 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.9565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.12%. Mplx's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 90.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.