Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Given New $62.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) had its price target hoisted by Morgan Stanley from $56.00 to $62.00 in a report published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the pipeline company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the company. UBS Group increased their target price on Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Raymond James increased their target price on Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com cut Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, March 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.10.

Mplx Stock Performance

NYSE MPLX opened at $52.50 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.47, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.40. Mplx has a twelve month low of $39.56 and a twelve month high of $54.79. 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 50-day moving average of $51.84 and a 200 day moving average of $47.88.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.03. Mplx had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 36.18%. The business had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.10 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Mplx will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a $0.9565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.29%. Mplx’s payout ratio is 90.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mplx news, VP Shawn M. Lyon acquired 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $52.75 per share, for a total transaction of $211,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 25,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,334,522.25. The trade was a 18.78 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Mplx by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 6,904,477 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $330,448,000 after buying an additional 266,998 shares during the period. ING Groep NV boosted its position in shares of Mplx by 69.8% during the third quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 6,628,400 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $294,699,000 after buying an additional 2,725,000 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Mplx by 0.8% during the third quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 5,735,562 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $255,003,000 after buying an additional 45,271 shares during the period. BROOKFIELD Corp ON boosted its position in shares of Mplx by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 4,221,615 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $202,047,000 after buying an additional 79,799 shares during the period. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Mplx by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 2,279,124 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $109,079,000 after buying an additional 108,228 shares during the period. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mplx Company Profile

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.