Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages
by Tristan Rich · The Markets DailyShares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX – Get Free Report) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $60.8750.
A number of research firms have recently commented on MPLX. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Mplx from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Mplx from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Mplx from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Mplx from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th.
View Our Latest Analysis on MPLX
Mplx Trading Down 0.6%
NYSE:MPLX opened at $57.91 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.23. The firm has a market cap of $58.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.31 and a beta of 0.56. Mplx has a 52 week low of $44.60 and a 52 week high of $59.84. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $56.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $53.65.
Mplx (NYSE:MPLX – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The pipeline company reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $5.99 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.23 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 34.37% and a net margin of 37.79%.The company’s revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.07 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Mplx will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Mplx Dividend Announcement
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 9th were issued a dividend of $1.0765 per share. This represents a $4.31 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is 89.42%.
Institutional Trading of Mplx
A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of MPLX. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Mplx by 2.2% during the third quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 5,611,824 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $280,311,000 after purchasing an additional 120,216 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC bought a new position in Mplx during the third quarter worth about $2,698,000. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH purchased a new position in shares of Mplx in the third quarter worth about $990,000. Bridges Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Mplx by 53.2% in the third quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. now owns 103,351 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $5,162,000 after purchasing an additional 35,869 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis raised its position in shares of Mplx by 1,585.3% in the second quarter. Natixis now owns 403,758 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $20,798,000 after purchasing an additional 379,800 shares during the period. 24.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
About Mplx
MPLX LP (NYSE: MPLX) is a midstream master limited partnership that owns, operates and develops energy infrastructure primarily across the United States. The company provides a range of midstream services including the gathering, transportation, storage and distribution of crude oil, refined petroleum products, natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs). MPLX also operates processing and fractionation facilities and supplies logistics services that connect producers, refiners and end-use markets.
The partnership’s asset base includes pipelines, storage terminals, rail and marine facilities, natural gas processing plants and NGL fractionators.