HighTower Advisors LLC Increases Position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 5.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 593,566 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 32,976 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC owned 0.06% of Mplx worth $28,408,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP increased its position in Mplx by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 5,735,562 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $255,003,000 after buying an additional 45,271 shares in the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. increased its holdings in shares of Mplx by 4.9% during the third quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 1,933,486 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $85,963,000 after acquiring an additional 90,793 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its position in shares of Mplx by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,568,200 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $75,054,000 after purchasing an additional 17,900 shares during the last quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT raised its position in shares of Mplx by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT now owns 1,506,962 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $72,123,000 after purchasing an additional 8,166 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp boosted its stake in Mplx by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 1,276,828 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $56,768,000 after purchasing an additional 64,714 shares in the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MPLX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Raymond James upped their price objective on Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com lowered Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, March 2nd. UBS Group upped their price target on Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. One research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mplx presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $53.40.

Insider Activity at Mplx

In other news, VP Shawn M. Lyon bought 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were bought at an average price of $52.75 per share, for a total transaction of $211,000.00. Following the purchase, the vice president now owns 25,299 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,334,522.25. The trade was a 18.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Mplx Trading Up 2.0 %

Mplx stock opened at $53.43 on Friday. Mplx Lp has a 52-week low of $39.56 and a 52-week high of $54.79. The company has a market cap of $54.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.40. 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 has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $48.02.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.10 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.9565 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.16%. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.74%.

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.