Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at StockNews.com

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

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on MPLX. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Mplx from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mplx currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.11.

Mplx Trading Down 0.8 %

Mplx stock opened at $53.40 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $50.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.86. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $54.40 billion, a PE ratio of 12.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.42. Mplx has a 12-month low of $38.44 and a 12-month high of $54.74.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. Mplx had a net margin of 36.18% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The business’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.10 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a $0.9565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.16%. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.74%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mplx

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. CFO4Life Group LLC lifted its position in Mplx by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. CFO4Life Group LLC now owns 19,200 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $919,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. RE Dickinson Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Mplx by 11.5% in the 4th quarter. RE Dickinson Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,017 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $96,000 after buying an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in Mplx by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 60,475 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,689,000 after buying an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. GraniteShares Advisors LLC lifted its position in Mplx by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. GraniteShares Advisors LLC now owns 51,441 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,462,000 after buying an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Mplx by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 19,701 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $876,000 after buying an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.