Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Hits New 12-Month High on Analyst Upgrade

Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Wall Street Zen upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a buy rating. The company traded as high as $59.98 and last traded at $59.7650, with a volume of 225981 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $58.65.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price 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. Citigroup boosted their price target on Mplx from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of Mplx from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Mplx from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Mplx from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mplx presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.56.

Institutional Trading of Mplx

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MPLX. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Mplx by 4.1% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 24,049 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,287,000 after acquiring an additional 939 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Mplx by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,557 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $853,000 after acquiring an additional 1,021 shares during the period. Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of Mplx by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 53,036 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,732,000 after purchasing an additional 1,133 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mplx during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $211,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Mplx by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 12,920 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $666,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Mplx Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The business’s fifty day moving average is $57.04 and its 200 day moving average is $53.74. The company has a market cap of $60.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.38, a PEG ratio of 5.29 and a beta of 0.56.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The pipeline company reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $5.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.23 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 34.37% and a net margin of 37.79%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.07 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th were issued a $1.0765 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. This represents a $4.31 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.2%. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 89.42%.

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.