M&T Bank Corp Makes New Investment in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

M&T Bank Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 45,494 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,023,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. CWM LLC raised its position in Mplx by 73.3% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,066 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 451 shares in the last quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mplx by 450.0% during the 2nd quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC now owns 1,100 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mplx in the 3rd quarter valued at $51,000. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in Mplx in the second quarter worth $67,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Mplx during the second quarter worth $88,000. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mplx

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MPLX. Truist Financial upped their price target on Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Mplx in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $43.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Mplx from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.44.

Mplx Stock Performance

NYSE:MPLX opened at $48.86 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.99. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $46.54 and its 200-day moving average is $43.88. Mplx Lp has a 52-week low of $35.75 and a 52-week high of $51.94. The company has a market cap of $49.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.52, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.42.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last issued 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 net margin of 36.77% and a return on equity of 32.70%. The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.89 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were given a $0.9565 dividend. This is a boost from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 90.09%.

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.