Raymond James Financial Inc. Invests $41.92 Million in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 875,825 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $41,917,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned 0.09% of Mplx as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. CFO4Life Group LLC raised its position in shares of Mplx by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. CFO4Life Group LLC now owns 19,200 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $919,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. GraniteShares Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Mplx by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. GraniteShares Advisors LLC now owns 51,441 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,462,000 after acquiring an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 14,489 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $693,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank grew its position in shares of Mplx by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 3,900 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $187,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mutual Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Mplx by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 12,345 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $627,000 after purchasing an additional 378 shares during the period. 24.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on MPLX shares. StockNews.com lowered Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, March 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Mplx from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.00.

Insider Transactions at Mplx

In other news, VP Shawn M. Lyon bought 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $52.75 per share, for a total transaction of $211,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the vice president now owns 25,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,334,522.25. This trade represents a 18.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Mplx Price Performance

Shares of Mplx stock opened at $50.03 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $52.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.16 billion, a PE ratio of 11.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.11. Mplx Lp has a 12 month low of $39.56 and a 12 month high of $54.87. 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 (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.03. Mplx had a net margin of 36.18% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The firm had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.10 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.9565 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.65%. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.74%.

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.