Groesbeck Investment Management Corp NJ Reduces Position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Groesbeck Investment Management Corp NJ cut its holdings in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 57.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,942 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 9,558 shares during the period. Groesbeck Investment Management Corp NJ’s holdings in Mplx were worth $255,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Mplx by 104,751.1% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 69,772,138 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,291,317,000 after buying an additional 69,705,594 shares in the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its position in Mplx by 18.9% during the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 28,771,793 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,023,413,000 after buying an additional 4,579,152 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Mplx by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 20,917,505 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $744,036,000 after purchasing an additional 809,273 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Mplx by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 6,463,737 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $237,348,000 after buying an additional 154,529 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG boosted its stake in shares of Mplx by 12.2% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 5,869,436 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $208,776,000 after buying an additional 639,199 shares during the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on MPLX shares. Raymond James upped their price target on Mplx from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays increased their price objective on Mplx from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. StockNews.com upgraded Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. UBS Group raised their price target on Mplx from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Mplx from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $43.86.

Mplx Trading Up 1.0 %

MPLX traded up $0.38 during trading on Thursday, hitting $40.37. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 577,092 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,161,413. The stock has a market cap of $40.80 billion, a PE ratio of 10.48 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $40.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.71. Mplx Lp has a twelve month low of $33.12 and a twelve month high of $42.89.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The pipeline company reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.88 billion. Mplx had a net margin of 34.82% and a return on equity of 31.85%. The firm’s revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.78 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Mplx Lp will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 5th were issued a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 2nd. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.42%. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is currently 89.24%.

Mplx Profile

MPLX LP owns and operates midstream energy infrastructure and logistics assets primarily in the United States. It operates in two segments, Logistics and Storage, and Gathering and Processing. The company is involved in the gathering, processing, and transportation of natural gas; gathering, transportation, fractionation, storage, and marketing of natural gas liquids; gathering, storage, transportation, and distribution of crude oil and refined products, as well as other hydrocarbon-based products and renewables; and sale of residue gas and condensate.