Financial Counselors Inc. Trims Holdings in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Financial Counselors Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 17.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 14,156 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 3,000 shares during the period. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Mplx were worth $678,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Aire Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Mplx by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Aire Advisors LLC now owns 10,397 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $498,000 after buying an additional 802 shares during the period. Blueprint Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in Mplx by 134.1% during the fourth quarter. Blueprint Investment Partners LLC now owns 161,356 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $7,723,000 after acquiring an additional 92,429 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in Mplx during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,047,000. HUB Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in Mplx by 342.0% in the 4th quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 25,601 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,225,000 after purchasing an additional 19,809 shares in the last quarter. Finally, VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in Mplx in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MPLX. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Mplx from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, March 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.00.

Mplx Trading Up 0.6 %

MPLX stock opened at $54.02 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $55.23 billion, a PE ratio of 12.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.99. Mplx Lp has a one year low of $39.56 and a one year high of $54.87. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $53.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $48.81.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.03. Mplx had a net margin of 36.18% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The company had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.10 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.9565 per share. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Shawn M. Lyon acquired 4,000 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the purchase, the vice president now owns 25,299 shares in the company, valued at $1,334,522.25. This trade represents a 18.78 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Mplx Company 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.