Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. Sells 215,709 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. lessened its stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,228,684 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 215,709 shares during the period. Mplx comprises about 8.7% of Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. owned approximately 1.40% of Mplx worth $680,985,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CFO4Life Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mplx by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. CFO4Life Group LLC now owns 19,200 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $919,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. RE Dickinson Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Mplx by 11.5% in the fourth quarter. RE Dickinson Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,017 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $96,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. GraniteShares Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mplx by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. GraniteShares Advisors LLC now owns 51,441 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,462,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares during the last quarter. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Mplx by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 14,489 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $693,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the period. Finally, Curi RMB Capital LLC boosted its position in Mplx by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC now owns 25,385 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,215,000 after purchasing an additional 290 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 equities research analysts have issued reports on MPLX shares. Raymond James raised their target price on Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.00.

Insider Activity at Mplx

In other news, VP Shawn M. Lyon purchased 4,000 shares of Mplx stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $52.75 per share, for a total transaction of $211,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the vice president now owns 25,299 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,334,522.25. This trade represents a 18.78 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Mplx Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE:MPLX opened at $50.49 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $52.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Mplx Lp has a fifty-two week low of $39.84 and a fifty-two week high of $54.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.63 billion, a PE ratio of 11.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.11.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted 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 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 revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.10 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect 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. Investors 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 7.58%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. Mplx’s payout ratio is currently 90.74%.

About Mplx

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.