Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) Receives $54.00 Average Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has given a hold recommendation and eight have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $54.00.

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Barclays lifted their price target on Mplx from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th.

Mplx Stock Performance

NYSE MPLX opened at $48.53 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.53, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.40. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $53.11 and a 200 day moving average of $49.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. Mplx has a twelve month low of $39.56 and a twelve month high of $54.87.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.03. Mplx had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 36.18%. The business had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.10 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Mplx will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.9565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.88%. Mplx’s payout ratio is 90.74%.

Insider Activity at Mplx

In other Mplx news, VP Shawn M. Lyon acquired 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $52.75 per share, for a total transaction of $211,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the vice president now owns 25,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,334,522.25. The trade was a 18.78 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Institutional Trading of Mplx

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Mplx by 42.5% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 41,028 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,824,000 after acquiring an additional 12,236 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its holdings in Mplx by 3.5% in the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 25,400 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,129,000 after acquiring an additional 862 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Mplx by 387.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 823,467 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $36,611,000 after acquiring an additional 654,500 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Mplx by 15.1% during the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 6,286 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $279,000 after purchasing an additional 826 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Mplx by 35.1% during the 3rd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 123,434 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $5,488,000 after buying an additional 32,055 shares during the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.