Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. Buys 7,822 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. increased its stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) by 15.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 58,775 shares of the pipeline company's stock after purchasing an additional 7,822 shares during the quarter. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC.'s holdings in Mplx were worth $2,813,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. CFO4Life Group LLC grew its position in shares of Mplx by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. CFO4Life Group LLC now owns 19,200 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $919,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. RE Dickinson Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Mplx by 11.5% during the 4th quarter. RE Dickinson Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,017 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $96,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the period. GraniteShares Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Mplx by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. GraniteShares Advisors LLC now owns 51,441 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $2,462,000 after buying an additional 237 shares during the last quarter. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 14,489 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $693,000 after buying an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Curi RMB Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC now owns 25,385 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,215,000 after buying an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 24.25% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,334,522.25. This represents a 18.78% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Mplx Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of MPLX stock traded up $0.22 on Monday, reaching $50.54. 1,033,226 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,713,499. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $50.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $50.62. The stock has a market cap of $51.59 billion, a PE ratio of 12.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.76. Mplx Lp has a one year low of $39.95 and a one year high of $54.87. 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 (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.03. Mplx had a net margin of 36.18% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The company had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. The company's revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 9th were paid a $0.9565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 9th. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.57%. Mplx's payout ratio is presently 88.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on MPLX shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Mplx from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Sunday, March 2nd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. 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. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $52.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $55.50.

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.