Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Price Target Raised to $62.00

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) had its price objective boosted by Morgan Stanley from $56.00 to $62.00 in a report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the pipeline company’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on MPLX. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price 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. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 2nd. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Mplx from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mplx has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.10.

Mplx Price Performance

Mplx stock opened at $52.37 on Tuesday. Mplx has a 52 week low of $39.56 and a 52 week high of $54.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $52.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.54 billion, a PE ratio of 12.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.40.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.03. Mplx had a net margin of 36.18% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The business had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.10 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Mplx will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.9565 per share. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mplx news, VP Shawn M. Lyon bought 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $52.75 per share, with a total value of $211,000.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 25,299 shares in the company, valued at $1,334,522.25. This trade represents a 18.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Institutional Trading of Mplx

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Mplx during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Mplx by 56.3% in the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,135 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 409 shares during the period. Cedar Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Mplx in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $51,000. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new position in Mplx in the 4th quarter worth approximately $56,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in Mplx by 139.6% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,785 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $85,000 after acquiring an additional 1,040 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

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.