PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Sells 1,903 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. cut its position in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 101,082 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,903 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Mplx were worth $4,494,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. purchased a new stake in Mplx during the 1st quarter valued at about $482,000. Tidal Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Mplx during the 1st quarter valued at about $202,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Mplx in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,396,000. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in Mplx by 486.2% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 133,685 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $5,556,000 after buying an additional 110,880 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Mplx by 152.0% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 34,462 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,432,000 after buying an additional 20,788 shares during the period. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on MPLX shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Mplx from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays increased their target price on Mplx from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group increased their target price on Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Mplx has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.44.

Mplx Stock Up 2.5 %

MPLX stock opened at $49.50 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $50.43 billion, a PE ratio of 11.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.37. The business has a 50 day moving average of $45.02 and a 200 day moving average of $42.96. Mplx Lp has a twelve month low of $35.51 and a twelve month high of $49.54. 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 (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.09 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 32.70% and a net margin of 36.77%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.89 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Mplx Lp will post 4.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a $0.9565 dividend. This is an increase from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 90.09%.

Insider Transactions at Mplx

In other news, VP Carl Kristopher Hagedorn sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.24, for a total value of $188,960.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,750 shares in the company, valued at $696,790. This trade represents a 21.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

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.