Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) Shares Sold by ProShare Advisors LLC

ProShare Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 9.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,136 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 2,867 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $1,347,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Progeny 3 Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Mplx by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Progeny 3 Inc. now owns 1,036,859 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $49,624,000 after acquiring an additional 21,400 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in Mplx by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 6,904,477 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $330,448,000 after purchasing an additional 266,998 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Global Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Mplx by 14.6% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Global Advisors LLC now owns 1,857,003 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $88,876,000 after purchasing an additional 235,977 shares during the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Mplx by 147.7% in the fourth quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 57,698 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,761,000 after buying an additional 34,404 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in shares of Mplx by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 162,113 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $7,759,000 after buying an additional 16,574 shares in the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mplx Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MPLX opened at $50.72 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a market cap of $51.77 billion, a PE ratio of 12.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.49. Mplx Lp has a 12 month low of $39.95 and a 12 month high of $54.87.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.15 billion. Mplx had a net margin of 36.18% and a return on equity of 31.94%. Mplx’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate 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, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th were given a $0.9565 dividend. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.54%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 9th. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is currently 88.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on MPLX. StockNews.com lowered shares of Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 2nd. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $52.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.50.

Insider Activity at Mplx

In related news, VP Shawn M. Lyon bought 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $52.75 per share, with a total value of $211,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 25,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,334,522.25. The trade was a 18.78% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Mplx Profile

MPLX LP engages in the operation of midstream energy infrastructure and logistics assets, and distribution fuels services. It operates through the Crude Oil and Products Logistics and Natural Gas and NGL Services segments. The Crude Oil and Products Logistics segment transports, stores, distributes, and markets crude oil, asphalt, refined petroleum products, and water.