Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Raises Stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 12.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 218,802 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 24,379 shares during the quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $10,472,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. ING Groep NV boosted its position in shares of Mplx by 69.8% in the third quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 6,628,400 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $294,699,000 after acquiring an additional 2,725,000 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $255,003,000 after acquiring an additional 45,271 shares during the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. boosted its position in shares of 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. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its position in shares of Mplx by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,568,200 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $75,054,000 after acquiring an additional 17,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT boosted its position in shares of Mplx by 0.5% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mplx Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE MPLX opened at $53.08 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.91. Mplx Lp has a 52 week low of $39.56 and a 52 week high of $54.79. 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 market cap of $54.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.61, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.40.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 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 analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

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 dividend of $0.9565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.21%. Mplx’s payout ratio is currently 90.74%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on MPLX. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.10.

Insider Transactions at Mplx

In related news, VP Shawn M. Lyon purchased 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 purchase, the vice president now owns 25,299 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,334,522.25. This represents a 18.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Mplx Company 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.