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 published on Thursday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and set a $47.00 price target on shares of Mplx in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Mplx from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group raised their target price on Mplx from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Mplx from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Buy and an average price target of $47.88.

Mplx Trading Up 0.2 %

Mplx stock traded up $0.10 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $44.07. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 55,371 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,846,303. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $43.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Mplx has a 12 month low of $35.06 and a 12 month high of $45.24. The stock has a market cap of $44.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.37.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The pipeline company reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.17. Mplx had a return on equity of 32.68% and a net margin of 35.95%. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.96 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.91 EPS. Mplx’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Mplx will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. Mplx’s payout ratio is presently 82.52%.

Institutional Trading of Mplx

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MPLX. DRW Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mplx in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,572,000. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Mplx by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 444,691 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $16,618,000 after acquiring an additional 9,406 shares during the last quarter. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Mplx during the fourth quarter valued at $91,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Mplx by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 111,989 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,112,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Addis & Hill Inc purchased a new position in shares of Mplx in the 4th quarter worth about $529,000. 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.