First Horizon Advisors Inc. Sells 1,891 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 57.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,390 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,891 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Mplx were worth $62,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. CWM LLC grew its position in shares of Mplx by 73.3% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,066 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 451 shares during the period. Summit Securities Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Mplx by 450.0% during the second quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC now owns 1,100 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mplx in the 2nd quarter valued at $67,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Mplx during the 2nd quarter worth $88,000. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in Mplx by 10.4% during the second quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,992 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $127,000 after acquiring an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group raised their price target on Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Truist Financial lifted 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. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on Mplx in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $43.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.44.

Mplx Price Performance

NYSE:MPLX opened at $49.50 on Monday. Mplx Lp has a 52-week low of $35.51 and a 52-week high of $49.54. The company has a market cap of $50.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.37. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $45.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.96.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.04). Mplx had a return on equity of 32.70% and a net margin of 36.77%. The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.09 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.89 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Mplx Lp will post 4.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were given a $0.9565 dividend. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.73%. This is a boost from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Carl Kristopher Hagedorn sold 4,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $696,790. This trade represents a 21.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

About Mplx

MPLX LP owns and operates midstream energy infrastructure and logistics assets primarily in the United States. It operates in two segments, Logistics and Storage, and Gathering and Processing. The company is involved in the gathering, processing, and transportation of natural gas; gathering, transportation, fractionation, storage, and marketing of natural gas liquids; gathering, storage, transportation, and distribution of crude oil and refined products, as well as other hydrocarbon-based products and renewables; and sale of residue gas and condensate.