Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the nine research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $59.00.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on MPLX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $57.00 price objective on shares of Mplx in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Mplx from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Mplx from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Mplx from $60.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Mplx from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mplx

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Mplx by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 26,409,654 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,319,162,000 after acquiring an additional 325,451 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Mplx by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 19,561,938 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $977,119,000 after purchasing an additional 143,361 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mplx during the second quarter valued at about $776,894,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Mplx by 0.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 13,649,224 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $730,506,000 after buying an additional 83,392 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of Mplx by 8.3% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 9,873,619 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $508,590,000 after buying an additional 757,569 shares during the period. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Mplx Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MPLX opened at $53.70 on Wednesday. Mplx has a 52-week low of $44.60 and a 52-week high of $56.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $54.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.38 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $53.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $51.45.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.45. Mplx had a net margin of 37.61% and a return on equity of 34.14%. The firm had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.16 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Mplx will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 7th were paid a dividend of $1.0765 per share. This is a boost from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.96. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 7th. This represents a $4.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.0%. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 91.31%.

Mplx Company Profile

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.