Heronetta Management L.P. Purchases 24,400 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Heronetta Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) by 7.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 362,264 shares of the pipeline company's stock after buying an additional 24,400 shares during the period. Mplx comprises approximately 10.5% of Heronetta Management L.P.'s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Heronetta Management L.P.'s holdings in Mplx were worth $13,302,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MPLX. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Mplx by 2.2% during the third quarter. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 12,784 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $455,000 after acquiring an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc raised its holdings in shares of Mplx by 1.2% during the first quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 26,220 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $903,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mplx by 12.9% during the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,710 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $96,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Lee Financial Co raised its holdings in shares of Mplx by 5.1% during the third quarter. Lee Financial Co now owns 6,821 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $243,000 after acquiring an additional 329 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Republic Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Mplx by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. First Republic Investment Management Inc. now owns 80,866 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $2,656,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.25% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MPLX. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Mplx from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. UBS Group raised their target price on Mplx from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Barclays raised their target price on Mplx from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday. Raymond James raised their target price on Mplx from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Mplx from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mplx currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $43.43.

Mplx Stock Performance

MPLX stock traded down $0.22 during trading on Monday, reaching $41.91. 1,996,387 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,129,278. Mplx Lp has a twelve month low of $33.12 and a twelve month high of $42.89. The company has a market capitalization of $42.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.00 and a beta of 1.35. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The pipeline company reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.88 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 31.85% and a net margin of 34.82%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.78 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 5th were issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.11%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 2nd. Mplx's payout ratio is 89.24%.

About Mplx

MPLX LP owns and operates midstream energy infrastructure and logistics assets primarily in the United States. It operates in two segments, Logistics and Storage, and Gathering and Processing. The company is involved in the gathering, processing, and transportation of natural gas; gathering, transportation, fractionation, storage, and marketing of natural gas liquids; gathering, storage, transportation, and distribution of crude oil and refined products, as well as other hydrocarbon-based products and renewables; and sale of residue gas and condensate.