Mplx Lp $MPLX Position Lessened by Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP

Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP trimmed its holdings in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,233,767 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 385,337 shares during the quarter. Mplx comprises about 7.9% of Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP’s holdings in Mplx were worth $361,327,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MPLX. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Mplx by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 24,049 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,287,000 after acquiring an additional 939 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its stake in Mplx by 177.8% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,711 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $88,000 after purchasing an additional 1,095 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Mplx by 1.9% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 256,015 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $13,187,000 after purchasing an additional 4,878 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in Mplx by 0.8% during the second quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 25,081 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,291,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in Mplx by 21.7% in the 2nd quarter. Private Wealth Partners LLC now owns 72,900 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,755,000 after buying an additional 13,000 shares in the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on MPLX shares. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Mplx from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (a-)” rating on shares of Mplx in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Mplx from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $57.00 price objective on shares of Mplx in a report on Monday, December 1st. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Mplx from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.29.

Mplx Stock Performance

NYSE MPLX opened at $58.87 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $55.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $52.65. Mplx Lp has a 12-month low of $44.60 and a 12-month high of $59.25. The firm has a market cap of $59.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.21, a PEG ratio of 5.28 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The pipeline company reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.07. Mplx had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 37.79%.The company had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.07 EPS. Mplx’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 9th were issued a $1.0765 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 9th. This represents a $4.31 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.3%. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 89.42%.

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.