Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Rating Lowered to Strong Sell at Zacks Research

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) was downgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Mplx from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (a)” rating on shares of Mplx in a research report on Monday. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Mplx from $64.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. Wall Street Zen cut Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 11th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Mplx from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.70.

Mplx Stock Performance

NYSE:MPLX opened at $54.02 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $57.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $55.10. Mplx has a 1-year low of $47.80 and a 1-year high of $59.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The firm has a market cap of $54.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.26 and a beta of 0.49.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.15). Mplx had a net margin of 36.38% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The firm had revenue of $2.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.10 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Mplx will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mplx

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new position in Mplx in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $134,319,000. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in Mplx by 23.7% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,763,110 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $307,577,000 after purchasing an additional 1,104,510 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in Mplx by 8.3% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 9,873,619 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $508,590,000 after purchasing an additional 757,569 shares in the last quarter. Merewether Investment Management LP acquired a new stake in Mplx in the second quarter valued at $16,988,000. Finally, Alps Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Mplx by 1.2% in the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 26,409,654 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,319,162,000 after buying an additional 325,451 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Mplx Company Profile

MPLX LP (NYSE: MPLX) is a midstream master limited partnership that owns, operates and develops energy infrastructure primarily across the United States. The company provides a range of midstream services including the gathering, transportation, storage and distribution of crude oil, refined petroleum products, natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs). MPLX also operates processing and fractionation facilities and supplies logistics services that connect producers, refiners and end-use markets.

The partnership’s asset base includes pipelines, storage terminals, rail and marine facilities, natural gas processing plants and NGL fractionators.