Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. Takes $1.11 Million Position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 24,875 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $1,106,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. purchased a new position in Mplx in the 1st quarter valued at $482,000. Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mplx in the 1st quarter worth $202,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mplx during the 1st quarter worth $1,396,000. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in Mplx by 486.2% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 133,685 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $5,556,000 after purchasing an additional 110,880 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Mplx by 152.0% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 34,462 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,432,000 after purchasing an additional 20,788 shares during the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Mplx Stock Down 0.8 %

Mplx stock traded down $0.41 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $49.09. 1,676,665 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,858,946. 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 twelve month low of $35.51 and a twelve month high of $49.88. The company has a market cap of $50.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a fifty day moving average of $45.12 and a 200-day moving average of $43.01.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.09 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.89 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Mplx Lp will post 4.26 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a $0.9565 dividend. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This is a boost from Mplx's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Mplx's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.33%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Mplx in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $43.00 target price on the stock. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Mplx from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Mplx from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Mplx currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $49.44.

Mplx Company 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.