Epoch Investment Partners Inc. Acquires 161,901 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. increased its stake in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) by 13.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,378,594 shares of the pipeline company's stock after purchasing an additional 161,901 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. owned approximately 0.14% of Mplx worth $65,980,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CFO4Life Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mplx by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. CFO4Life Group LLC now owns 19,200 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $919,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. RE Dickinson Investment Advisors LLC boosted 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 acquiring an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. GraniteShares Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Mplx by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. GraniteShares Advisors LLC now owns 51,441 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $2,462,000 after acquiring an additional 237 shares during the period. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Mplx by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 14,489 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $693,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank raised its holdings in Mplx by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 3,900 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $187,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 24.25% of the company's stock.

Mplx Price Performance

NYSE:MPLX traded down $0.26 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $52.26. The stock had a trading volume of 363,099 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,770,051. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.44 billion, a PE ratio of 12.41, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.11. Mplx Lp has a 52 week low of $39.84 and a 52 week high of $54.87. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $51.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $49.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.99.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.03. Mplx had a net margin of 36.18% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The business had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.10 earnings per share. Mplx's quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MPLX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Mplx from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Sunday, March 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Mplx currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $54.00.

Insider Transactions at Mplx

In other news, VP Shawn M. Lyon bought 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $52.75 per share, for a total transaction of $211,000.00. Following the acquisition, the vice president now owns 25,299 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,334,522.25. The trade was a 18.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Mplx Company Profile

MPLX LP engages in the operation of midstream energy infrastructure and logistics assets, and distribution fuels services. It operates through the Logistics and Storage (L&S) and Gathering and Processing (G&P) segments. The Logistics and Storage segment transports, stores, distributes, and markets crude oil, asphalt, refined petroleum products, and water.