Castleark Management LLC Reduces Stock Position in Mplx Lp $MPLX

Castleark Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 21.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,892 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 11,220 shares during the period. Castleark Management LLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $2,391,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Matrix Private Capital Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mplx in the 1st quarter worth about $457,000. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its position in shares of Mplx by 86.6% during the first quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 217,494 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $12,412,000 after purchasing an additional 100,927 shares during the last quarter. Bollard Group LLC grew its stake in Mplx by 14.8% in the first quarter. Bollard Group LLC now owns 405,728 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $23,155,000 after purchasing an additional 52,308 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in Mplx by 0.9% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 22,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,266,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Militia Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Mplx in the first quarter valued at about $3,824,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Mplx Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MPLX opened at $58.33 on Tuesday. Mplx Lp has a one year low of $47.80 and a one year high of $59.98. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $56.52 and a 200-day moving average of $56.43. The company has a market capitalization of $59.19 billion, a PE ratio of 12.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.66 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.10.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.15). The company had revenue of $2.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.09 billion. Mplx had a net margin of 36.38% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.10 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Mplx from $62.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Mplx in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Mplx from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Zacks Research upgraded Mplx from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.60.

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.