Wesbanco Bank Inc. Buys 1,500 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Wesbanco Bank Inc. lifted its stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 27.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,879 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings in Mplx were worth $329,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Glenmede Trust Co. NA raised its stake in shares of Mplx by 7.2% in the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 149,509 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $6,647,000 after buying an additional 10,000 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Mplx by 387.5% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 23,543 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,047,000 after buying an additional 18,714 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Mplx by 7.4% in the third quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 280,885 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $12,488,000 after buying an additional 19,320 shares during the period. ING Groep NV raised its stake in shares of Mplx by 69.8% in the third quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 6,628,400 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $294,699,000 after buying an additional 2,725,000 shares during the period. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Mplx by 5.3% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 1,276,828 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $56,768,000 after buying an additional 64,714 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Mplx from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Bank of America initiated coverage on Mplx in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $43.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com raised Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 19th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, 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 note on Monday, November 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.89.

Mplx Stock Performance

NYSE MPLX opened at $51.90 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.87 billion, a PE ratio of 12.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.43. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Mplx Lp has a 1-year low of $37.04 and a 1-year high of $53.15.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.09 billion. Mplx had a net margin of 36.77% and a return on equity of 32.70%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.89 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Mplx Lp will post 4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a $0.9565 dividend. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.37%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 90.33%.

Insider Transactions at Mplx

In other news, VP Carl Kristopher Hagedorn sold 4,000 shares of Mplx 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 owns 14,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $696,790. The trade was a 21.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Mplx Company Profile

MPLX LP engages in the operation of midstream energy infrastructure and logistics assets, and distribution fuels services. It operates through the Logistics and Storage (L&S) and Gathering and Processing (G&P) segments. The Logistics and Storage segment transports, stores, distributes, and markets crude oil, asphalt, refined petroleum products, and water.