Samalin Investment Counsel LLC Sells 1,301 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Samalin Investment Counsel LLC lessened its holdings in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 2.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 55,821 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,301 shares during the period. Mplx makes up approximately 1.1% of Samalin Investment Counsel LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $2,672,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MPLX. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mplx by 5,070.0% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 977,794 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $46,797,000 after purchasing an additional 958,881 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Mplx during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,917,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 654,500 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in Mplx by 368.0% during the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 188,057 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $9,000,000 after acquiring an additional 147,872 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC boosted its stake in Mplx by 479.6% during the 4th quarter. Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC now owns 153,600 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $7,351,000 after acquiring an additional 127,100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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

Mplx Trading Down 0.7 %

MPLX opened at $53.68 on Friday. Mplx Lp has a twelve month low of $39.56 and a twelve month high of $54.87. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $48.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $54.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.75, a P/E/G 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 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 return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 36.18%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.10 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.9565 per share. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Mplx’s payout ratio is 90.74%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 2nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.00.

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.