Townsquare Capital LLC Increases Stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 10.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,958 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 672 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $333,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MPLX. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Mplx by 5.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,488 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $689,000 after purchasing an additional 785 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 9.3% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 21,530 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $957,000 after buying an additional 1,832 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Mplx by 23.2% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 14,764 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $656,000 after acquiring an additional 2,785 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its holdings in Mplx by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 21,120 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,011,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fortem Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Mplx by 14.2% in the 4th quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC now owns 28,101 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,345,000 after purchasing an additional 3,501 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MPLX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Mplx from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 2nd. 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.00.

Insider Transactions at Mplx

In related news, VP Shawn M. Lyon purchased 4,000 shares of Mplx stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $52.75 per share, with a total value of $211,000.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Mplx Price Performance

Mplx stock opened at $49.30 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $52.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $49.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Mplx Lp has a 1 year low of $39.84 and a 1 year high of $54.87. The stock has a market cap of $50.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.11.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.03. Mplx had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 36.18%. The business had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.10 EPS. Mplx’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.9565 per share. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.76%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.