BNP Paribas Financial Markets Sells 108,312 Shares of Mplx Lp $MPLX

Key Points

• BNP Paribas Financial Markets has reduced its stake in MPLX LP by 8.3%, bringing its total holdings to approximately $64 million, according to a recent SEC filing.
• Multiple institutional investors have increased their stakes in MPLX, with Mercer Global Advisors raising their position by 58% during the last quarter.
• MPLX recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.9565, translating to an annual yield of 7.5%, with a payout ratio of approximately 90.97%.

BNP Paribas Financial Markets lowered its holdings in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) by 8.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,196,115 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 108,312 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned 0.12% of Mplx worth $64,016,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Colonial River Investments LLC increased its holdings in Mplx by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Colonial River Investments LLC now owns 11,603 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $621,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Mplx by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,603 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $621,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Mplx by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 21,520 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,030,000 after acquiring an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Mplx by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 14,743 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $789,000 after acquiring an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Mplx by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 12,157 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $651,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.25% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MPLX. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Mplx from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Mplx from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Mplx from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Mplx from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $55.89.

Mplx Stock Performance

Shares of Mplx stock traded up $0.05 during trading on Thursday, hitting $50.93. 804,762 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,596,846. The stock's fifty day moving average is $50.82 and its 200 day moving average is $51.32. The stock has a market cap of $51.90 billion, a PE ratio of 12.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.03. Mplx Lp has a 12 month low of $42.29 and a 12 month high of $54.87.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.05). Mplx had a return on equity of 30.95% and a net margin of 35.44%.The company had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.15 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th were issued a $0.9565 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 8th. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.5%. Mplx's dividend payout ratio is currently 90.97%.

Mplx Profile

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.