CWA Asset Management Group LLC Boosts Holdings in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 21,120 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 380 shares during the quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $1,011,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Mplx by 23.2% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 14,764 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $656,000 after buying an additional 2,785 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mplx by 9.3% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 21,530 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $957,000 after acquiring an additional 1,832 shares in the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its holdings in Mplx by 2.1% in the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 24,201 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,076,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Mplx by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,488 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $689,000 after purchasing an additional 785 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp purchased a new stake in Mplx during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,023,000. 24.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mplx Stock Performance

Shares of MPLX opened at $47.87 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $47.78 and a 200-day moving average of $44.72. The company has a market cap of $48.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.99. Mplx Lp has a 1 year low of $36.76 and a 1 year high of $51.94.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.04). Mplx had a net margin of 36.77% and a return on equity of 32.70%. The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.89 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were given a $0.9565 dividend. This is a boost from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MPLX. StockNews.com raised shares of Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group lifted their price target on Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Barclays upped their price objective on Mplx from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Mplx from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mplx

In other Mplx news, VP Carl Kristopher Hagedorn sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.24, for a total transaction of $188,960.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $696,790. This trade represents a 21.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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.