Jones Financial Companies Lllp Has $284,000 Stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 1,067.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,932 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 5,424 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp’s holdings in Mplx were worth $284,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Cedar Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Mplx in the 3rd quarter worth $51,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in Mplx by 56.3% in the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,135 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Mplx in the fourth quarter valued at about $98,000. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in Mplx by 25.1% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,576 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $134,000 after buying an additional 517 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Archford Capital Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Mplx in the fourth quarter valued at about $200,000. Institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Mplx Price Performance

NYSE:MPLX opened at $53.08 on Thursday. Mplx Lp has a 52 week low of $39.56 and a 52 week high of $54.79. The firm has a market cap of $54.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.40. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.99.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.10 EPS. The business’s quarterly 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 year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.9565 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.21%. Mplx’s payout ratio is currently 90.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Shawn M. Lyon purchased 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $52.75 per share, for a total transaction of $211,000.00. Following the acquisition, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MPLX has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 2nd. Raymond James increased their target price 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, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $53.10.

Mplx Company Profile

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.