Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Acquires 7,792 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) by 9.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 93,181 shares of the pipeline company's stock after purchasing an additional 7,792 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Mplx were worth $4,460,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MPLX. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mplx by 141.1% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,985,181 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $95,011,000 after buying an additional 1,161,714 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its position in Mplx by 5,070.0% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 977,794 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $46,797,000 after purchasing an additional 958,881 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Mplx in the fourth quarter valued at $41,917,000. Neuberger Berman Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Mplx by 221.9% during the 4th quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 643,995 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $30,822,000 after purchasing an additional 443,910 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in shares of Mplx by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 6,904,477 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $330,448,000 after buying an additional 266,998 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 24.25% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MPLX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Mplx from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, March 2nd. Raymond James boosted their target price on Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays cut their price target on Mplx from $55.00 to $52.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $55.50.

Mplx Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of MPLX stock traded up $0.20 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $51.23. The company had a trading volume of 881,123 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,700,889. The company has a market cap of $52.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Mplx Lp has a 12 month low of $39.95 and a 12 month high of $54.87. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $50.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.83.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 analysts' expectations of $3.15 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. The business's revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 9th were issued a dividend of $0.9565 per share. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.47%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 9th. Mplx's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 88.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 acquired at an average price of $52.75 per share, for a total transaction of $211,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the vice president now owns 25,299 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,334,522.25. This represents a 18.78% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

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.