Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Reaches New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $52.09 and last traded at $52.25, with a volume of 371318 shares. The stock had previously closed at $51.15.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on MPLX. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Mplx in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $43.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group boosted their target price on Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. StockNews.com raised Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Mplx from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mplx currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.89.

Mplx Stock Performance

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 stock has a market capitalization of $52.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $45.29.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.01 earnings per share (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 the consensus estimate of $3.09 billion. Mplx had a net margin of 36.77% and a return on equity of 32.70%. The company’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.89 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Mplx Lp will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a $0.9565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.37%. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is 90.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mplx

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

Institutional Trading of Mplx

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MPLX. Cedar Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Mplx in the 3rd quarter valued at $51,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in Mplx by 56.3% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,135 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 409 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in Mplx by 393.0% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,451 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $153,000 after buying an additional 2,751 shares in the last quarter. Archford Capital Strategies LLC bought a new position in Mplx in the 4th quarter worth about $200,000. Finally, Zhang Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mplx in the 3rd quarter valued at about $202,000. 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 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.