Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Cut to Buy at StockNews.com

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

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. Barclays increased their price objective on Mplx from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on Mplx in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $43.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Mplx presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.11.

Mplx Price Performance

Shares of MPLX opened at $53.89 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $54.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.42. Mplx has a twelve month low of $38.22 and a twelve month high of $54.52. The company has a 50 day moving average of $49.99 and a 200-day moving average of $46.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 36.18%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.10 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Mplx will post 4.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.9565 per share. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.10%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.97%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mplx

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mplx during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Mplx by 56.3% in the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,135 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares during the period. Cedar Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Mplx in the third quarter worth $51,000. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new position in shares of Mplx in the fourth quarter worth $56,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of Mplx by 139.6% in the fourth 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

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.