Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. Has $94.35 Million Stock Position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. raised its position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,971,331 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 37,845 shares during the period. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. owned about 0.19% of Mplx worth $94,348,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its position in shares of Mplx by 5,070.0% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 977,794 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $46,797,000 after purchasing an additional 958,881 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Mplx during the 4th quarter valued at about $41,917,000. FMR LLC boosted its position in Mplx by 387.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 823,467 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $36,611,000 after buying an additional 654,500 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its stake in Mplx by 368.0% in the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 188,057 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $9,000,000 after purchasing an additional 147,872 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC grew its stake in Mplx by 479.6% during the 4th quarter. Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC now owns 153,600 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $7,351,000 after purchasing an additional 127,100 shares during the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mplx Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE MPLX opened at $53.69 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $54.90 billion, a PE ratio of 12.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.40. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $53.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.73. Mplx Lp has a one year low of $39.56 and a one year high of $54.87. 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 (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 36.18%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.10 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.9565 dividend. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.13%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. Mplx’s payout ratio is presently 90.74%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on MPLX. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. StockNews.com cut Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 2nd. Barclays upped their target price on Mplx from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. 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 research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Shawn M. Lyon purchased 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were 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. This trade represents a 18.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, 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.