Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Hits New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day 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. The stock had previously closed at $53.33.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. StockNews.com lowered Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, March 2nd. Raymond James lifted their price target on Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock 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 shares were bought at an average cost of $52.75 per share, with a total value of $211,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 25,299 shares in the company, valued at $1,334,522.25. This trade represents a 18.78 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mplx

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in Mplx in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Mplx by 56.3% during 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 during the period. Cedar Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Mplx during the 3rd quarter valued at $51,000. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new stake in Mplx in the 4th quarter valued at $56,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in Mplx by 139.6% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,785 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 1,040 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Mplx Stock Performance

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $52.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $48.27. The company has a market cap of $55.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.93, a P/E/G 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.9565 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.03%. Mplx’s payout ratio is 90.74%.

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.