Obermeyer Wood Investment Counsel Lllp Sells 436 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Obermeyer Wood Investment Counsel Lllp lowered its position in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,662 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 436 shares during the period. Obermeyer Wood Investment Counsel Lllp’s holdings in Mplx were worth $1,126,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its holdings in Mplx by 405.7% in the third quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 47,395 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,686,000 after purchasing an additional 38,022 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. grew its position in Mplx by 18.9% in the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 28,771,793 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,023,413,000 after purchasing an additional 4,579,152 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. grew its position in Mplx by 60.6% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 2,028,514 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $72,154,000 after purchasing an additional 765,618 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Mplx by 99.8% in the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 236,365 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,408,000 after purchasing an additional 118,090 shares during the period. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. grew its position in Mplx by 10.9% in the 3rd quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 142,949 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $5,085,000 after purchasing an additional 14,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on MPLX. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Mplx from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. StockNews.com raised shares of Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $43.86.

Mplx Price Performance

Shares of MPLX traded up $0.22 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $40.21. 1,734,991 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,177,857. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. Mplx Lp has a 52-week low of $33.12 and a 52-week high of $42.89. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $40.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.71. The company has a market cap of $40.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.48 and a beta of 1.35.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The pipeline company reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.88 billion. Mplx had a net margin of 34.82% and a return on equity of 31.85%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.78 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 5th were paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 2nd. Mplx’s payout ratio is currently 89.24%.

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.