Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Downgraded to Buy Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Friday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on MPLX. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Bank of America assumed 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. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.11.

Mplx Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE:MPLX opened at $53.89 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $54.91 billion, a PE ratio of 12.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.42. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $49.89 and its 200 day moving average is $46.38. Mplx has a 12 month low of $38.22 and a 12 month high of $54.52.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. Mplx had a net margin of 36.18% and a return on equity of 31.94%. Mplx’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.10 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Mplx will post 4.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.9565 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.10%. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.97%.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Trading of Mplx

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. ING Groep NV lifted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 69.8% during the 3rd quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 6,628,400 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $294,699,000 after acquiring an additional 2,725,000 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 5,735,562 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $255,003,000 after acquiring an additional 45,271 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 141.1% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,985,181 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $95,011,000 after acquiring an additional 1,161,714 shares during the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 1,971,331 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $94,348,000 after acquiring an additional 37,845 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,568,200 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $75,054,000 after acquiring an additional 17,900 shares during the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Mplx Company Profile

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.