Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Upgraded at StockNews.com

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

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on MPLX. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Mplx from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group lifted 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. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Mplx from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.56.

Mplx Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Mplx stock opened at $48.52 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.60. Mplx has a 12-month low of $36.76 and a 12-month high of $51.94.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.09 billion. Mplx had a net margin of 36.77% and a return on equity of 32.70%. The company’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.89 EPS. Research analysts expect that Mplx will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a dividend of $0.9565 per share. This is a positive change from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.89%. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Cedar Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mplx in the third quarter worth $51,000. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mplx in the second quarter worth $67,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mplx in the second quarter worth $88,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Mplx by 393.0% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,451 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $153,000 after purchasing an additional 2,751 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zhang Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mplx in the third quarter worth $202,000. Institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

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.