Cetera Investment Advisers Acquires 16,574 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) by 11.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 162,113 shares of the pipeline company's stock after buying an additional 16,574 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers' holdings in Mplx were worth $7,759,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MPLX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $52.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 12th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Mplx from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, March 2nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Mplx has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $55.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mplx

In related news, VP Shawn M. Lyon purchased 4,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was bought at an average price of $52.75 per share, for a total transaction of $211,000.00. Following the purchase, the vice president now directly owns 25,299 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,334,522.25. This trade represents a 18.78% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Mplx Stock Performance

NYSE:MPLX traded up $0.48 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $52.12. 1,370,057 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,728,866. Mplx Lp has a 12 month low of $39.95 and a 12 month 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 firm has a 50 day moving average of $51.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $50.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.76.

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

Mplx Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 9th were paid a $0.9565 dividend. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 9th. Mplx's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 88.22%.

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.