Analysts Set Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) Target Price at $57.50

Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the ten ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $57.50.

Several brokerages have commented on MPLX. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Mplx from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Zacks Research raised shares of Mplx from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Mplx from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Mplx from $60.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd.

Mplx Stock Performance

Mplx stock opened at $51.85 on Tuesday. Mplx has a fifty-two week low of $44.60 and a fifty-two week high of $54.87. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $50.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $50.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.31. The stock has a market cap of $52.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.99, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.71.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.16 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Mplx will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Friday, November 7th will be paid a $1.0765 dividend. This represents a $4.31 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 7th. This is an increase from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.96. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 91.31%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Solstein Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mplx in the third quarter worth $25,000. Private Wealth Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Mplx in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Mplx in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Mplx during the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Operose Advisors LLC grew its position in Mplx by 216.2% during the 2nd quarter. Operose Advisors LLC now owns 585 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.