Virtu Financial LLC Purchases New Stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 21,866 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,047,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. grew its stake in 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 valued at $85,963,000 after purchasing an additional 90,793 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its stake in Mplx by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,568,200 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $75,054,000 after purchasing an additional 17,900 shares in the last quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT grew its stake in Mplx by 0.5% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 8,166 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp grew its stake in Mplx by 5.3% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 1,276,828 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $56,768,000 after purchasing an additional 64,714 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. grew its stake in Mplx by 3.0% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,144,404 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $50,880,000 after purchasing an additional 33,772 shares in the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mplx Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MPLX opened at $53.68 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $52.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $48.51. Mplx Lp has a twelve month low of $39.56 and a twelve month high of $54.87. The company has a market cap of $54.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.75, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.40. 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 (NYSE:MPLX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.03. Mplx had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 36.18%. The firm had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.10 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.13%. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 90.74%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MPLX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays boosted their target price on Mplx from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. 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. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mplx

In other news, VP Shawn M. Lyon purchased 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was purchased 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,334,522.25. The trade was a 18.78 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

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.