Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Friday.

MPLX has been the topic of several other reports. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. UBS Group upped their target price on Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Barclays lifted their price target on Mplx from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Mplx from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mplx has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.44.

Mplx Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MPLX opened at $49.50 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $45.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.99. Mplx has a one year low of $35.51 and a one year high of $49.54. The firm has a market cap of $50.43 billion, a PE ratio of 11.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.37.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.04). Mplx had a net margin of 36.77% and a return on equity of 32.70%. The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.09 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.89 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Mplx will post 4.26 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were given a dividend of $0.9565 per share. This is a positive change from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.73%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Carl Kristopher Hagedorn sold 4,000 shares of Mplx stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.24, for a total transaction of $188,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $696,790. The trade was a 21.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mplx

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group grew its stake in Mplx by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 24,201 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,076,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 5.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,488 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $689,000 after purchasing an additional 785 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp purchased a new stake in Mplx in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,023,000. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. increased its holdings in Mplx by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 1,933,486 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $85,963,000 after buying an additional 90,793 shares during the period. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC increased its holdings in Mplx by 387.5% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 23,543 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,047,000 after buying an additional 18,714 shares during the period. 24.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mplx Company Profile

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.