Brown Advisory Inc. Sells 18,262 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Brown Advisory Inc. reduced its stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) by 18.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 78,219 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 18,262 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc.'s holdings in Mplx were worth $4,186,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MPLX. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI bought a new position in Mplx in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $362,000. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Mplx by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 593,566 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $28,408,000 after acquiring an additional 32,976 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in Mplx by 55.8% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 5,376 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $257,000 after purchasing an additional 1,925 shares in the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in Mplx by 35.4% during the 4th quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 6,663 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $319,000 after purchasing an additional 1,743 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HBK Sorce Advisory LLC increased its stake in Mplx by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 10,804 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $517,000 after purchasing an additional 730 shares in the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mplx Price Performance

Shares of MPLX stock traded up $0.25 during trading on Friday, hitting $50.71. The company had a trading volume of 1,077,816 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,654,619. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The stock's 50-day moving average is $50.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $51.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.73. Mplx Lp has a 52 week low of $39.95 and a 52 week high of $54.87.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.15 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 32.08% and a net margin of 36.34%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 9th. Mplx's payout ratio is 88.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MPLX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Mplx from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mplx has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $55.63.

Mplx Company 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.