Jennison Associates LLC Sells 17,949 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Jennison Associates LLC lowered its position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 1.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,416,928 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 17,949 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC owned about 0.14% of Mplx worth $62,997,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Caprock Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mplx by 29.8% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 24,525 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,090,000 after acquiring an additional 5,624 shares in the last quarter. MAI Capital Management grew its position in shares of Mplx by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 54,350 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,416,000 after purchasing an additional 1,622 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP increased its stake in Mplx by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 5,735,562 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $255,003,000 after purchasing an additional 45,271 shares in the last quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Mplx by 13.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 48,333 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,149,000 after buying an additional 5,766 shares during the period. Finally, Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Mplx by 1.4% in the third quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 19,701 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $876,000 after buying an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Mplx Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Mplx stock opened at $47.58 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $48.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. Mplx Lp has a 12-month low of $35.51 and a 12-month high of $47.79. The business’s 50 day moving average is $44.80 and its 200-day moving average is $42.85.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.04). Mplx had a return on equity of 32.70% and a net margin of 36.77%. The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.09 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.89 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Mplx Lp will post 4.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a dividend of $0.9565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.04%. This is a boost from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Mplx from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com raised Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Mplx from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mplx presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.44.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mplx news, VP Carl Kristopher Hagedorn sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.24, for a total transaction of $188,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 14,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $696,790. This trade represents a 21.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

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.