Barnett & Company Inc. Sells 500 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Barnett & Company Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 43,187 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 500 shares during the period. Mplx comprises approximately 1.4% of Barnett & Company Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Barnett & Company Inc.’s holdings in Mplx were worth $2,067,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 13.5% during the third quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 48,333 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,149,000 after purchasing an additional 5,766 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. lifted its holdings in Mplx by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,144,404 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $50,880,000 after buying an additional 33,772 shares during the period. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Mplx by 62.0% in the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,688 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $520,000 after buying an additional 4,474 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake 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 buying an additional 12,236 shares during the period. Finally, Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. purchased a new stake in Mplx in the third quarter worth $1,106,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MPLX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Mplx from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. StockNews.com cut Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mplx currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.00.

Insider Activity at Mplx

In related news, VP Shawn M. Lyon purchased 4,000 shares of Mplx stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $52.75 per share, for a total transaction of $211,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 25,299 shares in the company, valued at $1,334,522.25. This represents a 18.78 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Mplx Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:MPLX opened at $53.68 on Monday. Mplx Lp has a 1 year low of $39.56 and a 1 year high of $54.87. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $52.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $48.51. The company has a market cap of $54.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.75, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted 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 business had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.10 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.9565 dividend. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. 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.