Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) Shares Purchased by Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co.

Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. boosted its position in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,971,331 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 37,845 shares during the quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Mplx were worth $94,348,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its stake in Mplx by 5,070.0% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 977,794 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $46,797,000 after purchasing an additional 958,881 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Mplx in the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,917,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Mplx by 387.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 823,467 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $36,611,000 after purchasing an additional 654,500 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in Mplx by 368.0% during the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 188,057 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $9,000,000 after purchasing an additional 147,872 shares during the period. Finally, Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC increased its position in Mplx by 479.6% in the 4th quarter. Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC now owns 153,600 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $7,351,000 after acquiring an additional 127,100 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays boosted their target price on Mplx from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. StockNews.com downgraded Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 2nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mplx news, VP Shawn M. Lyon bought 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $52.75 per share, with a total value of $211,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 25,299 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,334,522.25. This represents a 18.78 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Mplx Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of MPLX opened at $53.69 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $53.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $48.73. Mplx Lp has a 1 year low of $39.56 and a 1 year high of $54.87. The firm has a market cap of $54.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 in the prior year, the company posted $1.10 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.9565 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.13%. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.74%.

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.