Jennison Associates LLC Cuts Holdings in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Jennison Associates LLC lowered its stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,437,041 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 14,051 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC owned approximately 0.14% of Mplx worth $52,768,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Alps Advisors Inc. grew its position in Mplx by 18.9% in the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 28,771,793 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,023,413,000 after acquiring an additional 4,579,152 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 4.0% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 20,917,505 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $744,036,000 after purchasing an additional 809,273 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 6,463,737 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $237,348,000 after purchasing an additional 154,529 shares during the period. UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 12.2% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 5,869,436 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $208,776,000 after purchasing an additional 639,199 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 440.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,649,301 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $200,946,000 after purchasing an additional 4,604,066 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Mplx Price Performance

Shares of MPLX opened at $41.49 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $40.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.89. The company has a market capitalization of $41.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.89 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.07. Mplx Lp has a fifty-two week low of $33.12 and a fifty-two week high of $42.89.

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

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.