875,825 Shares in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) Bought by Raymond James Financial Inc.

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 875,825 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $41,917,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Mplx by 141.1% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,985,181 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $95,011,000 after buying an additional 1,161,714 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mplx by 5,070.0% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 977,794 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $46,797,000 after acquiring an additional 958,881 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its position in shares of Mplx by 368.0% in the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 188,057 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $9,000,000 after acquiring an additional 147,872 shares in the last quarter. Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 127,100 shares during the period. Finally, TrueMark Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mplx during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,394,000. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mplx news, VP Shawn M. Lyon purchased 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $52.75 per share, for a total transaction of $211,000.00. Following the purchase, the vice president now directly owns 25,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,334,522.25. This trade represents a 18.78 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Mplx Stock Up 0.9 %

NYSE MPLX opened at $50.03 on Wednesday. Mplx Lp has a 52 week low of $39.56 and a 52 week high of $54.87. 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 market capitalization of $51.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $52.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.35.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released 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. The company had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. Mplx had a net margin of 36.18% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.10 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.9565 dividend. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.74%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MPLX shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. 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. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, March 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.00.

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.