6,500 Shares in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) Acquired by National Bank of Canada FI

National Bank of Canada FI purchased a new stake in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 6,500 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $311,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. PFG Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mplx by 38.5% during the 4th quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 38,506 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,843,000 after buying an additional 10,705 shares during the last quarter. Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC raised its holdings in Mplx by 479.6% in the 4th 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 period. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its position in Mplx by 387.5% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 23,543 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,047,000 after acquiring an additional 18,714 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Mplx by 9,134.1% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 11,635 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $557,000 after purchasing an additional 11,509 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT grew its position in shares of Mplx by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT now owns 1,506,962 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $72,123,000 after purchasing an additional 8,166 shares during the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on MPLX. Morgan Stanley boosted 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. Raymond James boosted 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target 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. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, March 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.00.

Mplx Stock Performance

Shares of Mplx stock opened at $47.36 on Friday. Mplx Lp has a 1-year low of $39.56 and a 1-year high of $54.87. The company has a market cap of $48.42 billion, a PE ratio of 11.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The company has a 50 day moving average of $52.60 and a 200-day moving average of $49.25.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.03. The business 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%. Mplx’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.10 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.9565 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.08%. Mplx’s payout ratio is currently 90.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Shawn M. Lyon bought 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $52.75 per share, with a total value of $211,000.00. Following the acquisition, 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available 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.