Custom Index Systems LLC Sells 6,924 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Custom Index Systems LLC trimmed its stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 20.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,153 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 6,924 shares during the quarter. Custom Index Systems LLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $1,207,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. lifted its holdings in Mplx by 2.4% in the second quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 14,825,905 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $631,435,000 after acquiring an additional 353,324 shares during the period. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mplx by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 5,580,052 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $248,089,000 after purchasing an additional 34,659 shares during the period. Energy Income Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 5.1% in the first quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 5,224,918 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $217,148,000 after buying an additional 255,211 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in Mplx by 4.0% during the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 5,200,759 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $216,144,000 after buying an additional 201,500 shares during the period. Finally, Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY increased its holdings in Mplx by 7.8% during the second quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 2,571,817 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $109,534,000 after buying an additional 186,084 shares during the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays lifted their target price on Mplx from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Mplx from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Mplx from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Mplx from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of Mplx in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $43.00 price objective on the stock. One research 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, Mplx has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.67.

Mplx Price Performance

Shares of MPLX stock traded down $0.01 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $43.93. The company had a trading volume of 925,704 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,817,344. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $43.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.25. Mplx Lp has a 52-week low of $35.06 and a 52-week high of $45.24. The company has a market capitalization of $44.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.37.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The pipeline company reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.17. Mplx had a return on equity of 32.68% and a net margin of 35.95%. The firm had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.91 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Mplx Lp will post 4.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 87.63%.

Mplx Company Profile

MPLX LP owns and operates midstream energy infrastructure and logistics assets primarily in the United States. It operates in two segments, Logistics and Storage, and Gathering and Processing. The company is involved in the gathering, processing, and transportation of natural gas; gathering, transportation, fractionation, storage, and marketing of natural gas liquids; gathering, storage, transportation, and distribution of crude oil and refined products, as well as other hydrocarbon-based products and renewables; and sale of residue gas and condensate.