Huntington National Bank Buys 300 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Huntington National Bank boosted its position in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 8.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,900 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank’s holdings in Mplx were worth $187,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 958,881 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Mplx during the 4th quarter worth about $41,917,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mplx by 387.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 823,467 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $36,611,000 after buying an additional 654,500 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Mplx by 368.0% in the 4th 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 increased its position in shares of Mplx by 479.6% in the fourth quarter. Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC now owns 153,600 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $7,351,000 after acquiring an additional 127,100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on MPLX shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. StockNews.com cut shares of Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.00.

Mplx Stock Performance

NYSE MPLX opened at $48.53 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $49.62 billion, a PE ratio of 11.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.11. 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 50-day moving average of $53.11 and a 200-day moving average of $49.16. Mplx Lp has a 52-week low of $39.56 and a 52-week high of $54.87.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. Mplx had a net margin of 36.18% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.10 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.9565 dividend. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.88%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Shawn M. Lyon acquired 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $52.75 per share, for a total transaction of $211,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 25,299 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

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.