Shawn M. Lyon Purchases 4,000 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) Stock

Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) VP Shawn M. Lyon bought 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $52.75 per share, for a total transaction of $211,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 25,299 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,334,522.25. The trade was a 18.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Mplx Price Performance

Shares of MPLX stock opened at $52.33 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $51.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $47.81. 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 Lp has a 12 month low of $39.56 and a 12 month high of $54.79. The company has a market capitalization of $53.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.40.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 EPS 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 company earned $1.10 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.9565 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.31%. Mplx’s payout ratio is presently 90.74%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mplx

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Mplx by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 21,520 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,030,000 after buying an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. Alpine Global Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mplx in the 4th quarter worth approximately $292,000. Novem Group acquired a new position in shares of Mplx in the 4th quarter worth approximately $814,000. First Heartland Consultants Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Mplx by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. First Heartland Consultants Inc. now owns 9,857 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $472,000 after buying an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. raised its holdings in shares of Mplx by 15.4% in the 4th quarter. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. now owns 58,775 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,813,000 after buying an additional 7,822 shares in the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MPLX. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com downgraded Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 2nd. Raymond James upped their price target on Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group upped their price target on Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.11.

About Mplx

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.