Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Reduces Stock Position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. decreased its stake in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 5.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 50,383 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 2,908 shares during the quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in Mplx were worth $2,411,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cedar Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mplx during the 3rd quarter worth $51,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Mplx by 56.3% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,135 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Mplx by 393.0% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,451 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $153,000 after purchasing an additional 2,751 shares during the last quarter. Archford Capital Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mplx in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $200,000. Finally, Panoramic Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mplx during the 4th quarter worth approximately $200,000. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on MPLX shares. StockNews.com lowered Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Bank of America assumed 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. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mplx currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.11.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mplx

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

Mplx Stock Performance

NYSE:MPLX opened at $53.20 on Friday. Mplx Lp has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $54.18. The company has a market cap of $54.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $49.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.02.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.03. Mplx had a return on equity of 32.70% and a net margin of 36.77%. The business had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.10 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a $0.9565 dividend. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.33%.

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.