Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Reaches New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday after Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on the stock from $55.00 to $58.00. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Mplx traded as high as $54.87 and last traded at $54.67, with a volume of 1884647 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $53.33.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on MPLX. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays lifted their target price on Mplx from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price target on Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.00.

Insider Activity

In other Mplx news, VP Shawn M. Lyon purchased 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was bought at an average price of $52.75 per share, with a total value of $211,000.00. Following the acquisition, the vice president now owns 25,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,334,522.25. This represents a 18.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mplx

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Mplx by 141.1% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,985,181 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $95,011,000 after purchasing an additional 1,161,714 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its holdings in Mplx by 5,070.0% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 977,794 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $46,797,000 after purchasing an additional 958,881 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Mplx in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,917,000. Neuberger Berman Group LLC grew its position in shares of Mplx by 221.9% in the 4th quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 643,995 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $30,822,000 after buying an additional 443,910 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in shares of Mplx by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 6,904,477 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $330,448,000 after buying an additional 266,998 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Mplx Price Performance

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $48.10. The stock has a market cap of $55.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.40. 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 (NYSE:MPLX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.10 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors 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 7.00%. Mplx’s payout ratio is 90.74%.

Mplx Company Profile

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.