Aire Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Aire Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 8.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 10,397 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 802 shares during the quarter. Aire Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $498,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Mplx by 13.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 48,333 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,149,000 after purchasing an additional 5,766 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Mplx by 42.5% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 41,028 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,824,000 after purchasing an additional 12,236 shares in the last quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Mplx during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,106,000. Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its stake in shares of Mplx by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 69,485 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,089,000 after acquiring an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Mplx by 130.0% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 17,260 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $767,000 after acquiring an additional 9,755 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MPLX has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Raymond James increased their target price on Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays boosted their price target on Mplx from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.00.

Mplx Price Performance

MPLX opened at $53.88 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $52.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $48.58. Mplx Lp has a 52-week low of $39.56 and a 52-week high of $54.87. 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 company has a market cap of $55.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.40.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted 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 business had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.9565 per share. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.74%.

Insider Activity

In other Mplx news, VP Shawn M. Lyon purchased 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were bought at an average price of $52.75 per share, with a total value 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 represents a 18.78 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

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.