MML Investors Services LLC Acquires 18,714 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

MML Investors Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) by 387.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 23,543 shares of the pipeline company's stock after purchasing an additional 18,714 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC's holdings in Mplx were worth $1,047,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MPLX. Northeast Financial Consultants Inc increased its position in Mplx by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Northeast Financial Consultants Inc now owns 230,478 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $10,247,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Mplx by 852.8% during the third quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 100,462 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $4,467,000 after buying an additional 89,918 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Mplx by 5.3% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 1,276,828 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $56,768,000 after buying an additional 64,714 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its stake in Mplx by 47.8% in the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 14,976 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $666,000 after buying an additional 4,844 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 560,590 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $24,913,000 after buying an additional 9,738 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 24.25% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on MPLX shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Mplx in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $43.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Mplx from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $49.56.

Mplx Stock Performance

Shares of Mplx stock traded up $1.14 on Friday, hitting $47.28. 3,290,137 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,616,595. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $48.17 billion, a PE ratio of 11.15, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.42. Mplx Lp has a 1 year low of $36.27 and a 1 year high of $51.94. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $46.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $44.08.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.04). Mplx had a net margin of 36.77% and a return on equity of 32.70%. The company had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.89 earnings per share. Mplx's revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a dividend of $0.9565 per share. This is a boost from Mplx's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.09%. Mplx's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mplx

In other Mplx news, VP Carl Kristopher Hagedorn sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.24, for a total value of $188,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 14,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $696,790. This represents a 21.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Mplx Profile

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.