Cedar Wealth Management LLC Reduces Holdings in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Cedar Wealth Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 34.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 754 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 392 shares during the quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $36,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. boosted its stake in Mplx by 4.9% during the third quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 1,933,486 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $85,963,000 after buying an additional 90,793 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its position in shares of Mplx by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,568,200 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $75,054,000 after purchasing an additional 17,900 shares during the last quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT lifted its position in shares of Mplx by 0.5% during 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. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Mplx by 5.3% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 1,276,828 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $56,768,000 after purchasing an additional 64,714 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in shares of Mplx by 3.0% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,144,404 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $50,880,000 after purchasing an additional 33,772 shares during the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on 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 lifted their target price on Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted 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. Barclays lifted their price objective on Mplx from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.00.

Insider Transactions at Mplx

In other Mplx news, VP Shawn M. Lyon purchased 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were acquired at an average price 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,334,522.25. The trade was a 18.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Mplx Price Performance

MPLX opened at $53.68 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $52.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.46. Mplx Lp has a 1 year low of $39.56 and a 1 year high of $54.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.89 billion, a PE ratio of 12.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.40.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.10 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid 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 dividend yield of 7.13%. Mplx’s payout ratio is 90.74%.

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.