Tower Research Capital LLC TRC Sells 5,374 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lowered its position in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) by 75.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,738 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 5,374 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC's holdings in Mplx were worth $83,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Mplx by 141.1% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,985,181 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $95,011,000 after purchasing an additional 1,161,714 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its position in Mplx by 5,070.0% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 977,794 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $46,797,000 after buying an additional 958,881 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Mplx during the 4th quarter valued at about $41,917,000. Neuberger Berman Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Mplx by 221.9% in the fourth quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 643,995 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $30,822,000 after acquiring an additional 443,910 shares during the period. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Mplx by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,378,594 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $65,980,000 after purchasing an additional 161,901 shares during the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Shawn M. Lyon acquired 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 acquisition, the vice president now directly owns 25,299 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,334,522.25. This trade represents a 18.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted 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. Barclays raised their price target on Mplx from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Raymond James raised their target price on Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Mplx from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Sunday, March 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $55.88.

Mplx Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:MPLX opened at $49.03 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $51.40 and a 200 day moving average of $50.16. The company has a market cap of $50.13 billion, a PE ratio of 11.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.76. Mplx Lp has a 12-month low of $39.84 and a 12-month high of $54.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th will be paid a $0.9565 dividend. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 9th. Mplx's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 88.22%.

About Mplx

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.

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