Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) Position Reduced by Merrion Investment Management Co LLC

Merrion Investment Management Co LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 3.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,300 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 475 shares during the quarter. Merrion Investment Management Co LLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $511,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Mplx by 18.9% during the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 28,771,793 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,023,413,000 after purchasing an additional 4,579,152 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Mplx by 60.6% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 2,028,514 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $72,154,000 after purchasing an additional 765,618 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its holdings in shares of Mplx by 170.6% during the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 637,100 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $23,394,000 after purchasing an additional 401,700 shares during the period. Pingora Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mplx during the fourth quarter worth $1,253,000. Finally, Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY raised its holdings in shares of Mplx by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 2,362,999 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $86,769,000 after purchasing an additional 65,380 shares during the period. 24.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on MPLX shares. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Mplx from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Mplx from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 24th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Mplx from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Mplx from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.11.

Mplx Price Performance

Mplx stock traded up $0.24 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $42.59. 796,289 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,636,193. Mplx Lp has a 1-year low of $33.78 and a 1-year high of $42.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $39.63. The firm has a market cap of $43.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.35.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The pipeline company reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.01). Mplx had a net margin of 34.96% and a return on equity of 31.70%. The business had revenue of $2.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.89 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.91 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Mplx Lp will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 3rd were given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 2nd. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.98%. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 87.63%.

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.