Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) Shares Purchased by Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co.

Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,976,693 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,500 shares during the quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Mplx were worth $72,584,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Mplx by 440.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,649,301 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $200,946,000 after buying an additional 4,604,066 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Mplx by 18.9% in the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 28,771,793 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,023,413,000 after purchasing an additional 4,579,152 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Mplx by 18.3% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 6,309,208 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $224,419,000 after buying an additional 976,033 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Mplx by 4.0% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 20,917,505 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $744,036,000 after buying an additional 809,273 shares during the period. Finally, Citigroup Inc. increased its holdings in Mplx by 60.6% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 2,028,514 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $72,154,000 after buying an additional 765,618 shares in the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Mplx from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Mplx from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Mplx from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Mplx from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.86.

Mplx Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE MPLX traded up $0.13 on Tuesday, hitting $42.09. 1,945,425 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,187,519. Mplx Lp has a fifty-two week low of $33.12 and a fifty-two week high of $42.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. The company has a market cap of $42.54 billion, a PE ratio of 11.01 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $40.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.07.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The pipeline company reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.15. Mplx had a return on equity of 31.85% and a net margin of 34.82%. The business had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.88 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.78 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.08%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 2nd. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 89.24%.

About Mplx

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.