Shawn M. Lyon Purchases 4,000 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) Stock

Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) VP Shawn M. Lyon bought 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were bought at an average price of $52.75 per share, with a total value of $211,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the vice president now directly 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Mplx Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of 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 capitalization of $54.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.40. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $51.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $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 announced its earnings results 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 return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 36.18%. The firm had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.10 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in Mplx during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Cedar Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Mplx during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Mplx by 56.3% during the 4th 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. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new position in Mplx during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in Mplx by 139.6% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,785 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $85,000 after buying an additional 1,040 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MPLX has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com cut Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, March 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Barclays increased their price objective on Mplx from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.10.

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.