Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Cuts Stake in Mplx Lp $MPLX

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC decreased its holdings in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 122,420 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 13,861 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $6,115,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MPLX. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new position in Mplx during the 2nd quarter worth $776,894,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of Mplx by 8.3% during 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 buying an additional 757,569 shares in the last quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Mplx by 2.2% during the third quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 5,611,824 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $280,311,000 after buying an additional 120,216 shares during the period. Energy Income Partners LLC raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 236,932 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its stake in Mplx by 1.5% in the second quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 2,205,946 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $113,628,000 after acquiring an additional 33,126 shares during the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mplx Trading Up 1.4%

NYSE:MPLX opened at $55.54 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $56.49 billion, a PE ratio of 11.77 and a beta of 0.56. Mplx Lp has a 52-week low of $44.60 and a 52-week high of $56.26. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $53.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $51.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

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

Mplx Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 7th were paid a $1.0765 dividend. This is a boost from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.96. This represents a $4.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 7th. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 91.31%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on MPLX shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Mplx from $60.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Mplx from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Zacks Research raised Mplx from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (a-)” rating on shares of Mplx in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Mplx from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.00.

Mplx 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.