Acadian Asset Management LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Mplx Lp $MPLX

Acadian Asset Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 64.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 54,820 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 101,425 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $2,822,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MPLX. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Mplx by 0.8% in the second quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 25,081 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,291,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Magnus Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Mplx by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Magnus Financial Group LLC now owns 4,602 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $237,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in Mplx by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,165 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $163,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Rowlandmiller & PARTNERS.ADV boosted its stake in shares of Mplx by 11.7% in the 2nd quarter. Rowlandmiller & PARTNERS.ADV now owns 2,434 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $125,000 after buying an additional 254 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mplx by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,367 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $431,000 after buying an additional 269 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MPLX has been the topic of several analyst reports. Zacks Research raised shares of Mplx from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Mplx from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Mplx from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Mplx from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.86.

Mplx Stock Up 2.3%

Mplx stock opened at $53.12 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $54.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.25, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.71. 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 fifty-two week low of $44.60 and a fifty-two week high of $54.87. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $50.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.72.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.45. Mplx had a return on equity of 34.14% and a net margin of 37.61%.The company had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.16 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 7th were issued a $1.0765 dividend. This represents a $4.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 7th. This is a positive change from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.96. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is presently 91.31%.

About Mplx

MPLX LP engages in the operation of midstream energy infrastructure and logistics assets, and distribution fuels services. It operates through the Crude Oil and Products Logistics and Natural Gas and NGL Services segments. The Crude Oil and Products Logistics segment transports, stores, distributes, and markets crude oil, asphalt, refined petroleum products, and water.