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

Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) shares 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.

MPLX has been the subject of a number of other reports. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Raymond James raised their price objective on Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays lifted their price target on Mplx from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mplx currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Shawn M. Lyon bought 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was bought at an average price of $52.75 per share, for a total transaction of $211,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 25,299 shares in the company, valued at $1,334,522.25. The trade was a 18.78 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mplx

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Mplx in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Cedar Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mplx in the third quarter worth about $51,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Mplx by 56.3% in the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,135 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new stake in shares of Mplx in the fourth quarter worth about $56,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Mplx by 139.6% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,785 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $85,000 after acquiring an additional 1,040 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Mplx Stock Up 2.5 %

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $52.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $48.10. The company has a market capitalization of $55.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.10 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 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.