Griffin Asset Management Inc. Trims Holdings in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Griffin Asset Management Inc. reduced its stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 15.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,860 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 2,353 shares during the quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Mplx were worth $534,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MPLX. Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Mplx by 18.9% in the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 28,771,793 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,023,413,000 after buying an additional 4,579,152 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. raised its position in Mplx by 60.6% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 2,028,514 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $72,154,000 after purchasing an additional 765,618 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its stake in Mplx by 170.6% during the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 637,100 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $23,394,000 after purchasing an additional 401,700 shares in the last quarter. Pingora Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mplx during the fourth quarter worth $1,253,000. Finally, Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY grew its stake in shares of Mplx by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 2,362,999 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $86,769,000 after buying an additional 65,380 shares in the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mplx Stock Performance

NYSE:MPLX opened at $42.59 on Friday. Mplx Lp has a 12 month low of $33.78 and a 12 month high of $42.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.28 billion, a PE ratio of 10.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.35. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $41.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.63.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The pipeline company reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $2.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.89 billion. Mplx had a net margin of 34.96% and a return on equity of 31.70%. The company’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.91 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 2nd. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.98%. Mplx’s payout ratio is currently 87.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on MPLX. StockNews.com lowered Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Mplx from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Mplx from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Mplx from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.11.

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.