BNP Paribas Financial Markets Sells 209,933 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets lowered its holdings in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) by 13.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,304,427 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 209,933 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned about 0.13% of Mplx worth $62,430,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MPLX. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in Mplx during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Mplx by 56.3% during the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,135 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new position in Mplx during the 4th quarter valued at $56,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in Mplx by 139.6% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,785 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $85,000 after acquiring an additional 1,040 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RE Dickinson Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Mplx by 11.5% during the 4th quarter. RE Dickinson Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,017 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $96,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.25% of the company's stock.

Mplx Price Performance

Shares of MPLX stock traded up $0.23 on Monday, reaching $49.35. The company's stock had a trading volume of 553,929 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,759,831. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $51.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.20. Mplx Lp has a 1 year low of $39.84 and a 1 year high of $54.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The company has a market capitalization of $50.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.76.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.15 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 36.18%. Mplx's revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th will be given a dividend of $0.9565 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 9th. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.75%. Mplx's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 88.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on MPLX. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Mplx from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Raymond James upped their target price on Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Mplx from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, March 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $55.88.

Insider Transactions at Mplx

In other news, VP Shawn M. Lyon acquired 4,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $52.75 per share, for a total transaction of $211,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the vice president now directly owns 25,299 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,334,522.25. The trade was a 18.78% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

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.