Mplx Lp $MPLX Shares Sold by ING Groep NV

ING Groep NV lowered its position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 32.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,903,800 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,400,500 shares during the period. Mplx makes up about 0.9% of ING Groep NV’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. ING Groep NV’s holdings in Mplx were worth $154,976,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MPLX. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mplx by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 24,049 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,287,000 after acquiring an additional 939 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 6.6% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,557 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $853,000 after purchasing an additional 1,021 shares in the last quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Mplx by 5.4% in the second quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 19,139 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $986,000 after purchasing an additional 972 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Mplx by 12.5% in the second quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 53,113 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,736,000 after purchasing an additional 5,916 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Glenview Trust co grew its position in shares of Mplx by 62.5% in the second quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 6,500 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $335,000 after purchasing an additional 2,500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Mplx from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Mplx from $62.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Mplx from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Mplx from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Mplx from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.60.

Mplx Stock Performance

NYSE MPLX opened at $56.53 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $55.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $55.71. Mplx Lp has a twelve month low of $47.80 and a twelve month high of $59.98. The company has a market capitalization of $57.37 billion, a PE ratio of 12.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.42 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.15). Mplx had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 36.38%.The business had revenue of $2.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Mplx Lp will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Friday, May 8th were given a dividend of $1.0765 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 8th. This represents a $4.31 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.6%. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is 93.29%.

About Mplx

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.