Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Given New $59.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) had its price objective increased by Wells Fargo & Company from $54.00 to $59.00 in a research note published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the pipeline company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on MPLX. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Mplx in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $43.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.11.

Mplx Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of MPLX opened at $53.53 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $45.97. Mplx has a 1-year low of $37.47 and a 1-year high of $54.18. The stock has a market cap of $54.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.42.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.03. Mplx had a net margin of 36.77% and a return on equity of 32.70%. The firm had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.10 earnings per share. Mplx’s revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Mplx will post 4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a $0.9565 dividend. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.15%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.33%.

Insider Activity

In related 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 sale, the vice president now owns 14,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $696,790. The trade was a 21.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mplx

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ING Groep NV increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 2,725,000 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 45,271 shares during the period. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Mplx by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 5,580,052 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $248,089,000 after buying an additional 34,659 shares during the period. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. increased its stake in Mplx by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 1,933,486 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $85,963,000 after buying an additional 90,793 shares during the period. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 17,900 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

About Mplx

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.