Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) Receives $45.11 Average PT from Brokerages

Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $45.11.

MPLX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Mplx from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Mplx from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Mplx from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Mplx from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st.

Institutional Trading of Mplx

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Alps Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Mplx by 18.9% in the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 28,771,793 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,023,413,000 after buying an additional 4,579,152 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Mplx by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 6,463,737 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $237,348,000 after buying an additional 154,529 shares in the last quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC grew its stake in Mplx by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 5,224,918 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $217,148,000 after buying an additional 255,211 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its stake in Mplx by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 5,200,759 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $216,144,000 after buying an additional 201,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in Mplx by 23.4% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 3,028,327 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $111,200,000 after buying an additional 574,737 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Mplx Stock Up 0.7 %

MPLX opened at $42.87 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44. The stock has a market cap of $43.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.05, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.37. Mplx has a twelve month low of $33.86 and a twelve month high of $43.00. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $41.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.66.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The pipeline company reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $2.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.89 billion. Mplx had a net margin of 34.96% and a return on equity of 31.70%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.91 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Mplx will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 13th. Investors of record on Friday, May 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.93%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 2nd. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 87.63%.

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.