Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) Shares Sold by Smith Moore & CO.

Smith Moore & CO. cut its holdings in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 24,335 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,400 shares during the period. Smith Moore & CO.’s holdings in Mplx were worth $1,165,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mplx in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in Mplx by 56.3% in the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,135 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new position in shares of Mplx during the fourth quarter worth about $56,000. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mplx during the fourth quarter worth about $98,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP increased its position 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 worth $134,000 after purchasing an additional 517 shares in the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Shawn M. Lyon acquired 4,000 shares of Mplx stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $52.75 per share, with a total value of $211,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the vice president now owns 25,299 shares in the company, valued at $1,334,522.25. This trade represents a 18.78 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Mplx from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. 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 research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 2nd. Finally, Raymond James upped their target price on shares of 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 issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.00.

Mplx Price Performance

Shares of MPLX opened at $48.53 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $53.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $49.12. Mplx Lp has a twelve month low of $39.56 and a twelve month high of $54.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.62 billion, a PE ratio of 11.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.40.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. Mplx’s quarterly 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 year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.9565 dividend. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.