Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) Position Boosted by Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its holdings in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 16.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 20,120 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,860 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Mplx were worth $963,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MPLX. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Mplx in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Mplx by 56.3% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,135 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares during the period. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR acquired a new stake in shares of Mplx during the fourth quarter worth $56,000. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mplx in the 4th quarter valued at $98,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in shares of Mplx by 25.1% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,576 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $134,000 after purchasing an additional 517 shares during the period. 24.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Mplx Stock Performance

Shares of MPLX stock opened at $54.02 on Monday. Mplx Lp has a fifty-two week low of $39.56 and a fifty-two week high of $54.87. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $53.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.89. 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 firm has a market cap of $55.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.83, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.40.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $3.06 billion for 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%. Mplx’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.10 EPS. Analysts predict that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a $0.9565 dividend. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is 90.74%.

Insider Transactions at Mplx

In other Mplx news, VP Shawn M. Lyon acquired 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $52.75 per share, for a total transaction of $211,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the vice president now owns 25,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,334,522.25. This trade represents a 18.78 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

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.