HighTower Advisors LLC Has $27.86 Million Stake in Mplx Lp $MPLX

HighTower Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 12.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 557,680 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 80,154 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC owned 0.05% of Mplx worth $27,856,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MPLX. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Mplx in the second quarter valued at $26,000. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mplx in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Operose Advisors LLC increased its position in Mplx by 216.2% in the 2nd quarter. Operose Advisors LLC now owns 585 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Caldwell Trust Co acquired a new position in Mplx during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in Mplx in the third quarter worth approximately $39,000. 24.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (a-)” rating on shares of Mplx in a report on Monday, December 29th. Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of Mplx from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Mplx from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Mplx from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 21st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.29.

Mplx Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MPLX opened at $56.70 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The stock has a market cap of $57.67 billion, a PE ratio of 11.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.15 and a beta of 0.57. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $54.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $52.45. Mplx Lp has a 1-year low of $44.60 and a 1-year high of $58.27.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The pipeline company reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.07. Mplx had a net margin of 37.79% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The company had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.23 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.07 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 9th were given a dividend of $1.0765 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. This represents a $4.31 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.6%. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 89.42%.

Mplx Company Profile

MPLX LP (NYSE: MPLX) is a midstream master limited partnership that owns, operates and develops energy infrastructure primarily across the United States. The company provides a range of midstream services including the gathering, transportation, storage and distribution of crude oil, refined petroleum products, natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs). MPLX also operates processing and fractionation facilities and supplies logistics services that connect producers, refiners and end-use markets.

The partnership’s asset base includes pipelines, storage terminals, rail and marine facilities, natural gas processing plants and NGL fractionators.