Royal Bank of Canada Boosts Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Price Target to $50.00

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) had its price target upped by Royal Bank of Canada from $47.00 to $50.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the pipeline company’s stock.

MPLX has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Mplx from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com raised Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group raised their price target on Mplx from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Barclays boosted 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.67.

Mplx Stock Performance

Shares of MPLX stock opened at $44.34 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $45.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.43, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.37. Mplx has a fifty-two week low of $35.06 and a fifty-two week high of $45.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.99. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $43.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.19.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The pipeline company reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.17. Mplx had a net margin of 35.95% and a return on equity of 32.68%. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.96 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.91 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Mplx will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 87.63%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mplx

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MPLX. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in Mplx by 153.3% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $356,000 after buying an additional 4,842 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in shares of Mplx by 8.0% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 398,340 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $17,710,000 after acquiring an additional 29,388 shares during the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Mplx during the third quarter valued at $256,000. Claro Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Mplx by 52.2% in the 3rd quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 7,994 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $355,000 after purchasing an additional 2,741 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Secure Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Mplx in the 3rd quarter worth about $225,000. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.