Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Sets New 12-Month High on Analyst Upgrade

Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) shares hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday after Truist Financial raised their price target on the stock from $48.00 to $55.00. Truist Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. Mplx traded as high as $47.71 and last traded at $47.48, with a volume of 214664 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $47.46.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on MPLX. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Bank of America started coverage on Mplx in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $43.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Mplx from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays lifted their target price on Mplx from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.44.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its stake in shares of Mplx by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 24,201 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,076,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Mplx by 5.3% in 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 last quarter. M&T Bank Corp purchased a new position in shares of Mplx during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,023,000. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. grew its stake 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 valued at $85,963,000 after buying an additional 90,793 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mplx by 387.5% in the third 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. Institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Mplx Price Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $44.71 and a 200-day moving average of $42.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.37.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.09 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 32.70% and a net margin of 36.77%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.89 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were given a dividend of $0.9565 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This is a positive change from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.03%. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 90.33%.

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.