Raymond James Financial Inc. Acquires New Holdings in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 875,825 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $41,917,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned 0.09% of Mplx at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MPLX. CFO4Life Group LLC grew its stake in Mplx by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. CFO4Life Group LLC now owns 19,200 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $919,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. GraniteShares Advisors LLC grew its position in Mplx by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. GraniteShares Advisors LLC now owns 51,441 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $2,462,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares during the period. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Mplx by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 14,489 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $693,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank raised its holdings in Mplx by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 3,900 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $187,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mutual Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mplx by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 12,345 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $627,000 after buying an additional 378 shares in the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Mplx Stock Performance

Shares of Mplx stock traded down $1.03 on Monday, reaching $49.54. 364,170 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,778,905. The company has a 50 day moving average of $52.18 and a 200 day moving average of $49.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Mplx Lp has a 52 week low of $39.84 and a 52 week high of $54.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.66 billion, a PE ratio of 11.78, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.11.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $3.06 billion during 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%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.10 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 earnings per share 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 given a dividend of $0.9565 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.72%. Mplx's dividend payout ratio is presently 90.74%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. StockNews.com lowered Mplx from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, March 2nd. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Mplx from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $54.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Shawn M. Lyon purchased 4,000 shares of Mplx stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $52.75 per share, for a total transaction of $211,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 25,299 shares in the company, valued at $1,334,522.25. This trade represents a 18.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

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.