Kovack Advisors Inc. Cuts Stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Kovack Advisors Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 11.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,677 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,837 shares during the quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Mplx were worth $655,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. ING Groep NV boosted its holdings in Mplx by 69.8% during the 3rd quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 6,628,400 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $294,699,000 after acquiring an additional 2,725,000 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Mplx by 0.8% during the third quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 5,735,562 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $255,003,000 after purchasing an additional 45,271 shares during the period. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of Mplx by 4.9% in the third quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 1,933,486 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $85,963,000 after purchasing an additional 90,793 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its stake in shares of Mplx by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,568,200 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $75,054,000 after buying an additional 17,900 shares during the period. Finally, CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT raised its holdings in Mplx by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT now owns 1,506,962 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $72,123,000 after buying an additional 8,166 shares during the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MPLX shares. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Mplx from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Truist Financial upped their price target on Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.11.

Mplx Trading Down 1.0 %

MPLX opened at $52.32 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. Mplx Lp has a 52 week low of $38.44 and a 52 week high of $54.74. The stock has a market cap of $53.30 billion, a PE ratio of 12.43, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.42. The business has a 50 day moving average of $51.01 and a 200-day moving average of $47.17.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. Mplx had a net margin of 36.18% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.10 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.9565 per share. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Mplx’s payout ratio is currently 90.74%.

Mplx 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.