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

Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the thirteen brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $61.60.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on MPLX shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Mplx in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Mplx from a “buy (a)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Mplx from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Mplx from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mplx

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Mplx by 0.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 19,561,938 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $977,119,000 after buying an additional 143,361 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position 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 last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Mplx by 23.7% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,763,110 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $307,577,000 after acquiring an additional 1,104,510 shares during the period. Energy Income Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mplx by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 5,659,885 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $282,711,000 after acquiring an additional 118,090 shares during the period. Finally, UBS Group AG increased its holdings in shares of Mplx by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 5,304,746 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $283,114,000 after acquiring an additional 38,283 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Mplx Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MPLX opened at $57.10 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $56.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.24. Mplx has a 52 week low of $47.80 and a 52 week high of $59.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.95 billion, a PE ratio of 12.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.49 and a beta of 0.47.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.15). Mplx had a net margin of 36.38% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The company had revenue of $2.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.10 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Mplx will post 4.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Friday, May 8th were paid a $1.0765 dividend. This represents a $4.31 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 8th. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 93.29%.

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.