Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Price Target Raised to $55.00 at UBS Group

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) had its price target increased by UBS Group from $51.00 to $55.00 in a research report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the pipeline company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on MPLX. Bank of America assumed coverage on Mplx in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $43.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Mplx from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Mplx from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Mplx from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.44.

Mplx Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:MPLX traded up $0.62 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $47.02. The stock had a trading volume of 2,127,282 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,861,689. The company has a market cap of $47.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.10, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.37. Mplx has a 12 month low of $35.31 and a 12 month high of $47.62. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $44.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.71. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.04). The firm 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 business’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.89 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Mplx will post 4.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were given a dividend of $0.9565 per share. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.14%. 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. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.09%.

Institutional Trading of Mplx

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. ING Groep NV lifted its position in shares of Mplx by 69.8% during the 3rd quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 6,628,400 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $294,699,000 after acquiring an additional 2,725,000 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its position in Mplx by 4,274.2% during the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 811,371 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $346,000 after purchasing an additional 792,822 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in Mplx by 387.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 823,467 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $36,611,000 after buying an additional 654,500 shares in the last quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. increased its holdings in Mplx by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 14,825,905 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $631,435,000 after buying an additional 353,324 shares during the period. Finally, Energy Income Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Mplx by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 5,224,918 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $217,148,000 after buying an additional 255,211 shares in the last quarter. 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.