Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Has $19.99 Million Stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lowered its stake in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 7.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 417,703 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 32,784 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $19,991,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. ING Groep NV increased its holdings in shares of Mplx by 69.8% during the 3rd quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 6,628,400 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $294,699,000 after acquiring an additional 2,725,000 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP grew its holdings in Mplx by 0.8% during the third quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 5,735,562 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $255,003,000 after purchasing an additional 45,271 shares during the last quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Mplx by 0.6% in the third quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 5,580,052 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $248,089,000 after purchasing an additional 34,659 shares during the period. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of Mplx by 4.9% in 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 last quarter. Finally, CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT boosted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT now owns 1,498,796 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $66,636,000 after buying an additional 217,674 shares during the period. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Mplx

In other news, VP Carl Kristopher Hagedorn sold 4,000 shares of Mplx stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.24, for a total transaction of $188,960.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,750 shares in the company, valued at $696,790. This trade represents a 21.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on MPLX shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, January 19th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Mplx from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on shares of Mplx in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $43.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mplx presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.89.

Mplx Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MPLX opened at $52.28 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $48.82 and a 200-day moving average of $45.29. The stock has a market cap of $53.26 billion, a PE ratio of 12.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.99. Mplx Lp has a fifty-two week low of $37.04 and a fifty-two week high of $53.15.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.04). Mplx had a net margin of 36.77% and a return on equity of 32.70%. The company had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.89 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a $0.9565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.32%. Mplx’s payout ratio is currently 90.33%.

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.