PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lowered its position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 99,563 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,519 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Mplx were worth $4,765,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its position in Mplx by 0.4% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. GraniteShares Advisors LLC grew its position in Mplx by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. GraniteShares Advisors LLC now owns 51,441 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,462,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares during the last quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Mplx by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 19,701 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $876,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. grew its position in Mplx by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 14,489 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $693,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FORA Capital LLC grew its position in Mplx by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. FORA Capital LLC now owns 15,320 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $681,000 after purchasing an additional 332 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Mplx Stock Performance

MPLX opened at $53.08 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $51.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $47.91. Mplx Lp has a 1 year low of $39.56 and a 1 year high of $54.79. The stock has a market cap of $54.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.40.

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

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 7.21%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.74%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. 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. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.10.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Shawn M. Lyon acquired 4,000 shares of Mplx stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $52.75 per share, for a total transaction of $211,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 25,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,334,522.25. The trade was a 18.78 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

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.