Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Upgraded 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 research note issued to investors on Saturday morning.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Mplx from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.11.

Mplx Stock Performance

Shares of Mplx stock opened at $53.40 on Friday. The firm has a market cap 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. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $50.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.99. Mplx has a 1 year low of $38.44 and a 1 year high of $54.74.

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

Mplx Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a $0.9565 dividend. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 90.74%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in 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 worth $330,448,000 after purchasing an additional 266,998 shares during the last quarter. ING Groep NV grew its position in Mplx by 69.8% in the 3rd quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 6,628,400 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $294,699,000 after purchasing an additional 2,725,000 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP grew its position in Mplx by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 5,735,562 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $255,003,000 after purchasing an additional 45,271 shares during the last quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON grew its position in Mplx by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 4,221,615 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $202,047,000 after purchasing an additional 79,799 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its position in Mplx by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 2,279,124 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $109,079,000 after purchasing an additional 108,228 shares during the last quarter. 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.