Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) Shares Purchased by D.A. Davidson & CO.

D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its holdings in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 25,400 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 862 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Mplx were worth $1,129,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MPLX. Mcdonald Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mplx by 1.4% during the second quarter. Mcdonald Partners LLC now owns 17,180 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $732,000 after acquiring an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Mplx by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 19,701 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $876,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Mplx by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 14,204 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $632,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mplx by 10.4% in the second quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,992 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $127,000 after buying an additional 282 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fidelis Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mplx by 3.9% during the third quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 9,032 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $396,000 after buying an additional 338 shares during the period. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MPLX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group raised their target price on Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. StockNews.com cut Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Mplx in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $43.00 price target for the company. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Mplx from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.44.

Mplx Price Performance

NYSE:MPLX opened at $51.66 on Monday. 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $45.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $43.29. Mplx Lp has a 1-year low of $35.51 and a 1-year high of $51.94. The firm has a market cap of $52.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.37.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.04). Mplx had a net margin of 36.77% and a return on equity of 32.70%. The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.89 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Mplx Lp will post 4.26 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were given a dividend of $0.9565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.41%. This is an increase from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mplx

In other Mplx news, VP Carl Kristopher Hagedorn sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $696,790. This represents a 21.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Mplx Company Profile

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.