Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) Stock Holdings Lessened by Bank of New York Mellon Corp

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lessened its holdings in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 58.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,051 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 19,725 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Mplx were worth $672,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mplx by 42.5% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 41,028 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,824,000 after purchasing an additional 12,236 shares during the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its stake in Mplx by 130.0% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 17,260 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $767,000 after buying an additional 9,755 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its position in Mplx by 3.5% in the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 25,400 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,129,000 after buying an additional 862 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in Mplx by 387.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 823,467 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $36,611,000 after buying an additional 654,500 shares during the period. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its stake in Mplx by 15.1% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 6,286 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $279,000 after buying an additional 826 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Mplx

In other news, VP Shawn M. Lyon bought 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $52.75 per share, with a total value of $211,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 25,299 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,334,522.25. The trade was a 18.78 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Mplx Price Performance

NYSE:MPLX opened at $53.70 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $52.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $48.69. Mplx Lp has a 52-week low of $39.56 and a 52-week high of $54.87. The firm has a market cap of $54.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.76, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.40.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.03. Mplx had a net margin of 36.18% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The company had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.10 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 7.12%. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.74%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.