Clearbridge Investments LLC Sells 125,504 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Clearbridge Investments LLC lowered its position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,976,393 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 125,504 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC owned 0.29% of Mplx worth $142,450,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Mplx in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Mplx by 56.3% in the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,135 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR acquired a new position in shares of Mplx during the fourth quarter valued at about $56,000. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mplx during the fourth quarter worth about $98,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in Mplx by 25.1% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,576 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $134,000 after acquiring an additional 517 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mplx

In other Mplx news, VP Shawn M. Lyon purchased 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were bought at an average price of $52.75 per share, with a total value of $211,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 25,299 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,334,522.25. This trade represents a 18.78 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on MPLX shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Raymond James increased their price target on Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. One 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.00.

Mplx Stock Up 0.6 %

Mplx stock opened at $54.02 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $53.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $48.89. 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 twelve month low of $39.56 and a twelve month high of $54.87. The company has a market capitalization of $55.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.83, 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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 36.18%. Mplx’s revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.10 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.9565 dividend. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.74%.

Mplx Company 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.