HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 80,154 Shares of Mplx Lp $MPLX

HighTower Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 12.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 557,680 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 80,154 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $27,856,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Mplx by 8.3% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 9,873,619 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $508,590,000 after acquiring an additional 757,569 shares during the period. Natixis increased its stake in shares of Mplx by 1,585.3% during the 2nd quarter. Natixis now owns 403,758 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $20,798,000 after purchasing an additional 379,800 shares during the last quarter. Merewether Investment Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Mplx in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $16,988,000. Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Mplx by 1.2% in the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 26,409,654 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,319,162,000 after purchasing an additional 325,451 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Energy Income Partners LLC lifted its stake in Mplx by 4.5% in the second quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 5,541,795 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $285,458,000 after purchasing an additional 236,932 shares during the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays raised their target price on Mplx from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Mplx from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 21st. Zacks Research upgraded Mplx from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Mplx from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of Mplx from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.29.

Mplx Stock Performance

Shares of MPLX opened at $56.70 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $54.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.15 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.31. Mplx Lp has a 52-week low of $44.60 and a 52-week high of $58.27.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The pipeline company reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.07. Mplx had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 37.79%.The business had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.07 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research 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 paid a $1.0765 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 9th. This represents a $4.31 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.6%. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio 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.