Royal Bank of Canada Increases Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Price Target to $52.00

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) had its price target raised by Royal Bank of Canada from $50.00 to $52.00 in a research report report published on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the pipeline company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Mplx from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report 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. Bank of America assumed coverage on Mplx in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $43.00 price target for the company. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Mplx from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.44.

Mplx Trading Up 1.5 %

NYSE:MPLX opened at $48.27 on Monday. Mplx has a 52 week low of $35.51 and a 52 week high of $48.49. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $44.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.89. 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 has a market cap of $49.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.37.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). Mplx had a return on equity of 32.70% and a net margin of 36.77%. The business had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.89 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Mplx will post 4.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a $0.9565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This is a boost from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.93%. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.33%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Carl Kristopher Hagedorn sold 4,000 shares of Mplx stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $696,790. This trade represents a 21.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mplx

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mplx during the 1st quarter valued at $41,000. 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 purchasing an additional 451 shares in the last quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC lifted its stake in Mplx by 450.0% during the second quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC now owns 1,100 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mplx in the 3rd quarter worth about $51,000. Finally, Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Mplx during the 2nd quarter valued at about $67,000. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Mplx Company 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.