Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP Sells 100,989 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP decreased its stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,634,573 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 100,989 shares during the period. Mplx accounts for 6.4% of Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP owned approximately 0.55% of Mplx worth $269,671,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Mplx by 56.3% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,135 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mplx during the 3rd quarter worth about $51,000. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mplx in the 4th quarter worth approximately $98,000. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in shares of Mplx by 25.1% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,576 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $134,000 after acquiring an additional 517 shares during the period. Finally, Archford Capital Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Mplx during the fourth quarter worth approximately $200,000. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Mplx Price Performance

NYSE MPLX opened at $52.50 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $47.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.40. Mplx Lp has a 52-week low of $39.56 and a 52-week high of $54.79. 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 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. The company had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 36.18%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.10 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.29%. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MPLX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 2nd. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $53.10.

Mplx 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.