Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Upgraded to Hold at Zacks Research

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) was upgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on MPLX. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Mplx from $60.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Mplx from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Mplx from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Mplx from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Mplx from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.50.

Mplx Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of MPLX stock opened at $51.21 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The firm has a market cap of $52.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.85, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a 50 day moving average of $50.24 and a 200-day moving average of $50.71. Mplx has a 12-month low of $44.60 and a 12-month high of $54.87.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.45. Mplx had a return on equity of 34.14% and a net margin of 37.61%.The business had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.16 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Mplx will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Obermeyer Wealth Partners lifted its stake in Mplx by 18.4% during the 1st quarter. Obermeyer Wealth Partners now owns 35,181 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,883,000 after acquiring an additional 5,476 shares during the period. Hilltop National Bank purchased a new stake in Mplx during the 2nd quarter valued at $330,000. Jump Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mplx by 349.2% in the first quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 118,600 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $6,347,000 after acquiring an additional 92,196 shares during the period. Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Mplx by 14.8% during the 2nd quarter. Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC now owns 242,300 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $12,481,000 after purchasing an additional 31,300 shares during the period. Finally, Keudell Morrison Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Mplx during the 2nd quarter valued at about $335,000. Institutional investors 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 Crude Oil and Products Logistics and Natural Gas and NGL Services segments. The Crude Oil and Products Logistics segment transports, stores, distributes, and markets crude oil, asphalt, refined petroleum products, and water.