Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) Stock Position Raised by Principal Street Partners LLC

Principal Street Partners LLC lifted its position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,253 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 1,612 shares during the quarter. Principal Street Partners LLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $610,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mplx by 73.3% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,066 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 451 shares in the last quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC grew its holdings in Mplx by 450.0% during the second quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC now owns 1,100 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Mplx in the third quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mplx in the second quarter worth $67,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mplx during the 2nd quarter worth $88,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on MPLX. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Bank of America assumed coverage on Mplx in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $43.00 price objective for the company. Barclays raised their target price on Mplx from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Mplx from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.44.

Insider Activity at Mplx

In other news, VP Carl Kristopher Hagedorn sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.24, for a total transaction of $188,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $696,790. This trade represents a 21.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Mplx Stock Performance

MPLX stock traded up $0.41 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $49.50. The stock had a trading volume of 48,768 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,850,871. Mplx Lp has a 52 week low of $35.51 and a 52 week high of $49.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $43.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.37.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.04). Mplx had a return on equity of 32.70% and a net margin of 36.77%. The company had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.89 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were given a dividend of $0.9565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This is an increase from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.73%. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.33%.

Mplx Profile

MPLX LP owns and operates midstream energy infrastructure and logistics assets primarily in the United States. It operates in two segments, Logistics and Storage, and Gathering and Processing. The company is involved in the gathering, processing, and transportation of natural gas; gathering, transportation, fractionation, storage, and marketing of natural gas liquids; gathering, storage, transportation, and distribution of crude oil and refined products, as well as other hydrocarbon-based products and renewables; and sale of residue gas and condensate.