Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 7,884 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System reduced its position in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 310,943 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 7,884 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Mplx were worth $14,882,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MPLX. Cedar Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Mplx during the third quarter valued at about $51,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Mplx by 56.3% during the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,135 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares during the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new stake in Mplx during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Mplx during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $98,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP increased its position in Mplx by 25.1% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,576 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $134,000 after buying an additional 517 shares during the period. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MPLX has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com cut Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Mplx from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.00.

Mplx Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of MPLX opened at $54.46 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $52.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $48.27. The stock has a market cap of $55.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.40. Mplx Lp has a 12 month low of $39.56 and a 12 month high of $54.87.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.03. Mplx had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 36.18%. The business had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.10 EPS. Mplx’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.9565 dividend. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.03%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. Mplx’s payout ratio is 90.74%.

Insider Transactions at Mplx

In other Mplx news, VP Shawn M. Lyon bought 4,000 shares of Mplx stock in a transaction dated 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 acquisition, the vice president now directly owns 25,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,334,522.25. The trade was a 18.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

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.