Griffin Asset Management Inc. Sells 680 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Griffin Asset Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,246 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 680 shares during the quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Mplx were worth $544,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quent Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Mplx in the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new position in Mplx in the first quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Register Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Mplx during the 1st quarter worth $42,000. Pacifica Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Mplx during the 1st quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Mplx by 73.3% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,066 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 451 shares during the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Mplx from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Mplx from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com raised Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Mplx from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.25.

Mplx Price Performance

Shares of MPLX opened at $44.46 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.17 billion, a PE ratio of 11.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.37. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.15. Mplx Lp has a 52-week low of $35.06 and a 52-week high of $45.24.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The pipeline company reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.17. Mplx had a net margin of 35.95% and a return on equity of 32.68%. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.96 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.91 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Mplx Lp will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 9th were paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.65%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is 87.63%.

Mplx 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.