Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) Stake Lessened by Ascent Wealth Partners LLC

Ascent Wealth Partners LLC cut its stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 14.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,005 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 995 shares during the period. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $287,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MPLX. Cedar Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Mplx in the third quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Mplx by 56.3% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,135 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Mplx during the fourth quarter worth approximately $98,000. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in Mplx by 25.1% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,576 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $134,000 after buying an additional 517 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Mplx by 393.0% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,451 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $153,000 after buying an additional 2,751 shares in the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on MPLX shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Mplx from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Raymond James raised 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.11.

Mplx Stock Down 0.8 %

MPLX stock opened at $53.40 on Friday. Mplx Lp has a 12-month low of $38.44 and a 12-month high of $54.74. 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 company has a market cap of $54.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.68, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a 50 day moving average of $50.54 and a two-hundred day moving average of $46.89.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.10 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

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

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.