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 research note issued to investors on Thursday.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Mplx from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Mplx from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays increased their price target on Mplx from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Mplx in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $43.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.44.

Mplx Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:MPLX traded up $0.75 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $47.15. The stock had a trading volume of 1,297,751 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,857,574. Mplx has a 12-month low of $35.31 and a 12-month high of $47.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.99. The company has a market cap of $48.12 billion, a PE ratio of 11.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.37. The company’s 50 day moving average is $44.43 and its 200-day moving average is $42.68.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.04). Mplx had a net margin of 36.77% and a return on equity of 32.70%. The business had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.89 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Mplx will post 4.31 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be paid a $0.9565 dividend. This is a boost from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.11%. Mplx’s payout ratio is presently 90.33%.

Institutional Trading of Mplx

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MPLX. Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in Mplx by 47.4% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 51,740 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,150,000 after purchasing an additional 16,637 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in shares of Mplx by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 52,318 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,174,000 after buying an additional 2,300 shares during the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mplx during the 1st quarter worth about $275,000. Prevail Innovative Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Mplx by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Prevail Innovative Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 96,473 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,009,000 after buying an additional 2,096 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Mplx by 79.7% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 252,194 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $10,477,000 after acquiring an additional 111,826 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

About Mplx

MPLX LP owns and operates midstream energy infrastructure and logistics assets primarily in the United States. It operates in two segments, Logistics and Storage, and Gathering and Processing. The company is involved in the gathering, processing, and transportation of natural gas; gathering, transportation, fractionation, storage, and marketing of natural gas liquids; gathering, storage, transportation, and distribution of crude oil and refined products, as well as other hydrocarbon-based products and renewables; and sale of residue gas and condensate.