Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC Purchases 57,400 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) by 37.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 211,000 shares of the pipeline company's stock after acquiring an additional 57,400 shares during the quarter. Mplx comprises approximately 6.2% of Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC's holdings, making the stock its 6th largest position. Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC's holdings in Mplx were worth $11,293,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MPLX. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Mplx by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 93,181 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $4,460,000 after acquiring an additional 7,792 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Mplx by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 21,520 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,030,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares during the period. Alpine Global Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mplx in the fourth quarter valued at $292,000. Novem Group bought a new position in Mplx in the fourth quarter worth $814,000. Finally, First Heartland Consultants Inc. boosted its stake in Mplx by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. First Heartland Consultants Inc. now owns 9,857 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $472,000 after buying an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.25% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MPLX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $55.50.

Mplx Price Performance

NYSE:MPLX traded up $0.16 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $51.07. 1,329,620 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,709,106. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The stock has a market cap of $52.13 billion, a PE ratio of 12.13, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.76. Mplx Lp has a 12 month low of $39.95 and a 12 month high of $54.87. The company has a fifty day moving average of $50.65 and a 200 day moving average of $50.73.

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

Mplx Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th were given a dividend of $0.9565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 9th. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.49%. Mplx's payout ratio is currently 88.22%.

Insider Transactions at Mplx

In other Mplx news, VP Shawn M. Lyon bought 4,000 shares of Mplx stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,334,522.25. The trade was a 18.78% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

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.