Invesco Ltd. Sells 72,382 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Invesco Ltd. reduced its position in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 20,963,793 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 72,382 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned about 2.06% of Mplx worth $1,003,327,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MPLX. FMR LLC lifted its position in 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 shares of Mplx by 5,070.0% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 977,794 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $46,797,000 after acquiring an additional 958,881 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Mplx during the fourth quarter worth about $41,917,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its position in Mplx by 368.0% during the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 188,057 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $9,000,000 after purchasing an additional 147,872 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC grew its stake in Mplx by 479.6% in the fourth quarter. Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC now owns 153,600 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $7,351,000 after purchasing an additional 127,100 shares in the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Shawn M. Lyon purchased 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $52.75 per share, with a total value of $211,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the vice president now directly owns 25,299 shares in the company, valued at $1,334,522.25. This trade represents a 18.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Mplx Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MPLX traded up $0.69 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $48.10. 1,470,683 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,822,860. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $52.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.11. Mplx Lp has a 52 week low of $39.56 and a 52 week high of $54.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.99.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.03. Mplx had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 36.18%. The company had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.10 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.9565 dividend. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.95%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. Mplx's dividend payout ratio is currently 90.74%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MPLX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James increased their price objective on Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. 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 research note on Monday, March 17th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Mplx from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Sunday, March 2nd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Mplx from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $54.00.

Mplx Company Profile

MPLX LP engages in the operation of midstream energy infrastructure and logistics assets, and distribution fuels services. It operates through the Logistics and Storage (L&S) and Gathering and Processing (G&P) segments. The Logistics and Storage segment transports, stores, distributes, and markets crude oil, asphalt, refined petroleum products, and water.