Distillate Capital Partners LLC Sells 37,136 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Distillate Capital Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 7.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 486,452 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 37,136 shares during the quarter. Mplx accounts for approximately 1.1% of Distillate Capital Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Distillate Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $23,282,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PFG Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Mplx by 38.5% during the 4th quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 38,506 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,843,000 after purchasing an additional 10,705 shares during the period. Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC raised its holdings in Mplx by 479.6% during the fourth 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 during the period. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mplx by 387.5% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 23,543 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,047,000 after acquiring an additional 18,714 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Mplx by 9,134.1% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 11,635 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $557,000 after purchasing an additional 11,509 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT raised its stake in Mplx by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT now owns 1,506,962 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $72,123,000 after purchasing an additional 8,166 shares during the period. 24.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mplx Stock Performance

Shares of Mplx stock opened at $48.10 on Friday. Mplx Lp has a 12 month low of $39.56 and a 12 month high of $54.87. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $52.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.27. The firm has a market cap of $49.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. Mplx had a net margin of 36.18% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.10 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.95%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mplx news, VP Shawn M. Lyon purchased 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost 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 $1,334,522.25. This represents a 18.78 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MPLX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Mplx from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price target on Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.00.

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.