HighTower Advisors LLC Trims Stock Position in Mplx Lp $MPLX

HighTower Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 34.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 366,713 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 190,967 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $19,571,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Solstein Capital LLC acquired a new position in Mplx during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. EQ Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Mplx during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Wiser Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in Mplx during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in Mplx during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Groesbeck Investment Management Corp NJ acquired a new position in Mplx during the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,000. 24.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group boosted their target price on Mplx from $64.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Mplx from $55.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Mplx from $62.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Zacks Research cut Mplx from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Mplx from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mplx presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.60.

Mplx Stock Performance

MPLX opened at $56.47 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $57.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.22, a P/E/G ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $56.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.43. Mplx Lp has a 1-year low of $47.80 and a 1-year high of $59.98.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.15). The firm had revenue of $2.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.09 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 36.38%.The business’s revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.10 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Friday, May 8th were issued a $1.0765 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 8th. This represents a $4.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.6%. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is currently 93.29%.

Mplx Profile

MPLX LP (NYSE: MPLX) is a midstream master limited partnership that owns, operates and develops energy infrastructure primarily across the United States. The company provides a range of midstream services including the gathering, transportation, storage and distribution of crude oil, refined petroleum products, natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs). MPLX also operates processing and fractionation facilities and supplies logistics services that connect producers, refiners and end-use markets.

The partnership’s asset base includes pipelines, storage terminals, rail and marine facilities, natural gas processing plants and NGL fractionators.