Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) Holdings Trimmed by Maryland State Retirement & Pension System

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System cut its holdings in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 310,943 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 7,884 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Mplx were worth $14,882,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CFO4Life Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Mplx by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. CFO4Life Group LLC now owns 19,200 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $919,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its position in Mplx by 0.4% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 60,475 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,689,000 after buying an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. GraniteShares Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mplx by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. GraniteShares Advisors LLC now owns 51,441 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,462,000 after buying an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Mplx by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 14,489 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $693,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FORA Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mplx by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. FORA Capital LLC now owns 15,320 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $681,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report 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 report on Friday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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. Finally, Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One 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 data from MarketBeat.com, Mplx presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mplx news, VP Shawn M. Lyon acquired 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $52.75 per share, for a total transaction of $211,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the vice president now owns 25,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through the SEC website.

Mplx Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:MPLX opened at $54.46 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $52.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $48.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. Mplx Lp has a 12-month low of $39.56 and a 12-month high of $54.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.40.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 36.18%. The firm had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.10 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.9565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.03%. Mplx’s payout ratio is 90.74%.

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.