Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Acquires 7,201 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 16.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 52,095 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,201 shares during the quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $2,493,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MPLX. Cedar Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mplx in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $51,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Mplx by 393.0% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,451 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $153,000 after buying an additional 2,751 shares during the period. Zhang Financial LLC bought a new position in Mplx during the third quarter valued at $202,000. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mplx in the third quarter valued at $204,000. Finally, Marcum Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mplx in the 4th quarter worth about $205,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Mplx

In related news, VP Carl Kristopher Hagedorn sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.24, for a total transaction of $188,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 14,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $696,790. This represents a 21.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on MPLX shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Mplx from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.50.

Mplx Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MPLX opened at $52.03 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.27, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.43. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $49.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.74. Mplx Lp has a 12 month low of $37.04 and a 12 month high of $53.55.

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

Mplx Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.9565 per share. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. Mplx’s payout ratio is 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.