HBK Sorce Advisory LLC Increases Stock Position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

HBK Sorce Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 7.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,804 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 730 shares during the quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $517,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MPLX. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its stake in shares of Mplx by 5,070.0% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 977,794 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $46,797,000 after acquiring an additional 958,881 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Mplx in the fourth quarter valued at $41,917,000. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Mplx by 387.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 823,467 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $36,611,000 after acquiring an additional 654,500 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 147,872 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 127,100 shares in the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on MPLX shares. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Mplx from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com cut shares of Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, March 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.40.

Mplx Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MPLX opened at $53.43 on Friday. Mplx Lp has a fifty-two week low of $39.56 and a fifty-two week high of $54.79. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $48.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market cap of $54.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.40.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.10 EPS. Mplx’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.9565 per share. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.16%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. Mplx’s payout ratio is currently 90.74%.

Insider Activity

In other Mplx news, VP Shawn M. Lyon purchased 4,000 shares of Mplx stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $52.75 per share, with a total value of $211,000.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 25,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,334,522.25. This trade represents a 18.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Mplx 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.