Barclays PLC Lowers Holdings in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Barclays PLC trimmed its holdings in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 32.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,361,557 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 655,264 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $65,165,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. PFG Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Mplx by 38.5% in the fourth quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 38,506 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,843,000 after buying an additional 10,705 shares in the last quarter. Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mplx by 479.6% during the 4th quarter. Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC now owns 153,600 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $7,351,000 after acquiring an additional 127,100 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Mplx by 387.5% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 23,543 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,047,000 after acquiring an additional 18,714 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mplx by 9,134.1% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 11,635 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $557,000 after purchasing an additional 11,509 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT increased its position in Mplx by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT now owns 1,506,962 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $72,123,000 after purchasing an additional 8,166 shares during the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mplx Price Performance

MPLX opened at $50.27 on Thursday. 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $52.30 and a 200 day moving average of $49.35. Mplx Lp has a 52-week low of $39.79 and a 52-week high of $54.87. The stock has a market cap of $51.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.94, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.11.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its quarterly 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. Mplx had a net margin of 36.18% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The firm had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.10 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.9565 per share. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.61%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.74%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Shawn M. Lyon acquired 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $52.75 per share, for a total transaction of $211,000.00. Following the completion of 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 position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

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.