Sanctuary Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 21,530 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,832 shares during the quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mplx were worth $957,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its holdings in Mplx by 0.4% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 60,475 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,689,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Mplx by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 19,701 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $876,000 after buying an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Mplx by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 14,204 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $632,000 after acquiring an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. FORA Capital LLC lifted its position in Mplx by 2.2% during the third quarter. FORA Capital LLC now owns 15,320 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $681,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fidelis Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Mplx by 3.9% in the third quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 9,032 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $396,000 after acquiring an additional 338 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Mplx Stock Up 2.5 %

MPLX stock opened at $47.28 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $48.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.42. Mplx Lp has a 12 month low of $36.27 and a 12 month high of $51.94. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $46.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $44.11. 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 (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.09 billion. Mplx had a net margin of 36.77% and a return on equity of 32.70%. Mplx’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Mplx Lp will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were given a dividend of $0.9565 per share. This is a boost from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mplx news, VP Carl Kristopher Hagedorn sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.24, for a total value of $188,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $696,790. This represents a 21.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MPLX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Bank of America began coverage on Mplx in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $43.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com cut Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Mplx from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.56.

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.