Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) Shares Sold by Essex Financial Services Inc.

Essex Financial Services Inc. cut its stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 8.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,817 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,005 shares during the period. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Mplx were worth $518,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MPLX. ING Groep NV boosted its stake in shares of Mplx by 69.8% in the 3rd quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 6,628,400 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $294,699,000 after buying an additional 2,725,000 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP raised its holdings in Mplx by 0.8% in the third quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 5,735,562 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $255,003,000 after acquiring an additional 45,271 shares in the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. lifted its stake in Mplx by 4.9% in the third quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 1,933,486 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $85,963,000 after acquiring an additional 90,793 shares during the last quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT grew its holdings in Mplx by 0.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 8,166 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Mplx by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 1,276,828 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $56,768,000 after purchasing an additional 64,714 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Carl Kristopher Hagedorn sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.24, for a total value of $188,960.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $696,790. The trade was a 21.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Mplx Trading Down 1.0 %

NYSE:MPLX opened at $52.66 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $53.65 billion, a PE ratio of 12.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.42. Mplx Lp has a 52-week low of $37.78 and a 52-week high of $54.18. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $49.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $46.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40.

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 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 business 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 posted $1.10 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.39 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a $0.9565 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.27%. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.97%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MPLX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. UBS Group raised their target price on Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price target on Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.11.

Mplx 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.