Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Hits New 52-Week High – Here’s What Happened

Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $54.45 and last traded at $54.35, with a volume of 403134 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $53.71.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MPLX. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group increased their price target on Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.11.

Mplx Stock Up 0.3 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.46. The stock has a market cap of $54.91 billion, a PE ratio of 12.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.42.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 36.18%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.10 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Mplx Lp will post 4.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.9565 dividend. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.10%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. Mplx’s payout ratio is presently 90.97%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Carl Kristopher Hagedorn sold 4,000 shares of Mplx stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.24, for a total value of $188,960.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $696,790. This trade represents a 21.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its holdings in Mplx by 58.0% in the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 104,156 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,985,000 after buying an additional 38,241 shares during the last quarter. Lido Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Mplx by 85.1% in the fourth quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 33,545 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,605,000 after acquiring an additional 15,424 shares during the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its position in Mplx by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 101,961 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,880,000 after acquiring an additional 1,499 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its stake in Mplx by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 15,340 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $734,000 after purchasing an additional 364 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Evercore Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Mplx by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Evercore Wealth Management LLC now owns 132,053 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $6,320,000 after purchasing an additional 20,000 shares during the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Mplx

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.