Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) Stake Lessened by Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC

Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 18.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 9,419 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 2,066 shares during the quarter. Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $451,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MPLX. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in Mplx during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Mplx by 56.3% during the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,135 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 409 shares during the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new position in Mplx in the fourth quarter worth about $56,000. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Mplx during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $98,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in Mplx by 25.1% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,576 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $134,000 after acquiring an additional 517 shares during the period. 24.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MPLX. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Barclays boosted 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. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. StockNews.com cut Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 2nd. Finally, Raymond James upped their price target 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 given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.00.

Mplx Stock Performance

MPLX stock opened at $54.02 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $55.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.99. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $53.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $48.85. Mplx Lp has a 52 week low of $39.56 and a 52 week high of $54.87.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.10 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter 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 company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a $0.9565 dividend. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Mplx’s payout ratio is currently 90.74%.

Insider Transactions at Mplx

In other Mplx news, VP Shawn M. Lyon bought 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $52.75 per share, with a total value of $211,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly 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 position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

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.