Mplx Lp $MPLX Shares Purchased by Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 239.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 65,715 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 46,343 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Mplx were worth $3,507,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Solstein Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mplx during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. EQ Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mplx during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Wiser Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mplx during the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mplx during the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Groesbeck Investment Management Corp NJ acquired a new position in shares of Mplx during the 4th quarter valued at about $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Mplx Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of NYSE:MPLX opened at $56.47 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.10. Mplx Lp has a 1 year low of $47.80 and a 1 year high of $59.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.22, a PEG ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 0.49. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $56.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.46.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.15). Mplx had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 36.38%.The firm had revenue of $2.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.09 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.10 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Mplx Lp will post 4.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 8th were issued a dividend of $1.0765 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 8th. This represents a $4.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.6%. Mplx’s payout ratio is presently 93.29%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MPLX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Mplx from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Mplx from a “buy (a)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Mplx from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Mplx from $64.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.60.

Mplx Profile

MPLX LP (NYSE: MPLX) is a midstream master limited partnership that owns, operates and develops energy infrastructure primarily across the United States. The company provides a range of midstream services including the gathering, transportation, storage and distribution of crude oil, refined petroleum products, natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs). MPLX also operates processing and fractionation facilities and supplies logistics services that connect producers, refiners and end-use markets.

The partnership’s asset base includes pipelines, storage terminals, rail and marine facilities, natural gas processing plants and NGL fractionators.