Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $59.00.

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on MPLX shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (a-)” rating on shares of Mplx in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Barclays increased their target price on Mplx from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Zacks Research raised Mplx from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Mplx from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Mplx from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Mplx by 4.1% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 24,049 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,287,000 after acquiring an additional 939 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in Mplx by 8.1% in the second quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 6,715 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $346,000 after purchasing an additional 504 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in Mplx by 7.7% in the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,165 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $163,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the period. Magnus Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Mplx by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Magnus Financial Group LLC now owns 4,602 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $237,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Global Advisors LLC lifted its position in Mplx by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Eagle Global Advisors LLC now owns 1,919,565 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $98,877,000 after purchasing an additional 23,135 shares during the period. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Mplx Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of MPLX stock opened at $55.22 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $56.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.70, a P/E/G ratio of 4.99 and a beta of 0.56. Mplx has a 12-month low of $44.60 and a 12-month high of $57.15. 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 has a 50-day moving average price of $54.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $51.84.

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, topping 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 analysts’ expectations of $3.16 billion. Research analysts forecast that Mplx will post 4.41 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 14th. Investors of record on Friday, November 7th were issued a $1.0765 dividend. This is an increase from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.96. This represents a $4.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 7th. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 91.31%.

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.