StockNews.com Upgrades Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) to Strong-Buy

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.

MPLX has been the subject of a number of other reports. 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 research note on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Mplx from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. 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 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Mplx from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Mplx from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mplx has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.44.

Mplx Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of MPLX stock opened at $47.02 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $47.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.37. Mplx has a 12-month low of $35.31 and a 12-month high of $47.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $44.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.73.

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

Mplx Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a $0.9565 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This is a boost from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.14%. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is 90.33%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mplx

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Mplx by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,488 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $689,000 after buying an additional 785 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp bought a new stake in shares of Mplx in the third quarter worth about $2,023,000. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. raised its position in shares of Mplx by 4.9% during the third quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 1,933,486 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $85,963,000 after purchasing an additional 90,793 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 387.5% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 23,543 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,047,000 after purchasing an additional 18,714 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northeast Financial Consultants Inc grew its position in shares of Mplx by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Northeast Financial Consultants Inc now owns 230,478 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $10,247,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 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.