Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Saturday morning.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Mplx from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of 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 shares of Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.11.

Mplx Price Performance

NYSE MPLX opened at $53.16 on Friday. Mplx has a 12 month low of $38.44 and a 12 month high of $54.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.16 billion, a PE ratio of 12.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.42. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $50.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.01.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. Mplx had a net margin of 36.18% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.10 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Mplx will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.9565 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.20%. Mplx’s payout ratio is currently 90.74%.

Institutional Trading of Mplx

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MPLX. ING Groep NV increased its stake in Mplx by 69.8% in the third quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 6,628,400 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $294,699,000 after acquiring an additional 2,725,000 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in Mplx by 141.1% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,985,181 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $95,011,000 after acquiring an additional 1,161,714 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its stake in Mplx by 5,070.0% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 977,794 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $46,797,000 after acquiring an additional 958,881 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Mplx in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,917,000. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its stake in Mplx by 221.9% in the fourth quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 643,995 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $30,822,000 after acquiring an additional 443,910 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

About Mplx

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.