Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Cut to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report released on Saturday.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on MPLX. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Mplx from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group upped their target price on Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. 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 on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Mplx from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.89.

Mplx Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MPLX opened at $48.77 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Mplx has a 1 year low of $36.76 and a 1 year high of $51.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.69 billion, a PE ratio of 11.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.43. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $48.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $44.90.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.09 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 32.70% and a net margin of 36.77%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.89 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Mplx will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were given a dividend of $0.9565 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This is a boost from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.84%. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.09%.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Mplx by 11.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 15,925 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $678,000 after buying an additional 1,670 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Mplx in the second quarter valued at $88,000. Choreo LLC acquired a new position in Mplx during the 2nd quarter worth $258,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in Mplx by 33.3% during the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 43,857 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,868,000 after purchasing an additional 10,966 shares during the period. Finally, HBK Sorce Advisory LLC raised its position in Mplx by 47.4% in the 2nd quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 9,773 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $416,000 after purchasing an additional 3,144 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Mplx Company Profile

MPLX LP engages in the operation of midstream energy infrastructure and logistics assets, and distribution fuels services. It operates through the Logistics and Storage (L&S) and Gathering and Processing (G&P) segments. The Logistics and Storage segment transports, stores, distributes, and markets crude oil, asphalt, refined petroleum products, and water.