Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Cut to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on MPLX. Royal Bank of Canada upped 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. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Mplx from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays raised their price target on Mplx from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of Mplx in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $43.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.11.

Mplx Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE MPLX opened at $53.20 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $54.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.42. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $49.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. Mplx has a 12-month low of $37.58 and a 12-month high of $54.18.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 return on equity of 32.70% and a net margin of 36.77%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.10 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Mplx will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a $0.9565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.19%. Mplx’s payout ratio is currently 90.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Carl Kristopher Hagedorn sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.24, for a total value of $188,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,750 shares in the company, valued at $696,790. This trade represents a 21.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Institutional Trading of Mplx

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MPLX. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mplx by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 218,802 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $10,472,000 after acquiring an additional 24,379 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 593,566 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $28,408,000 after purchasing an additional 32,976 shares in the last quarter. Cascade Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Mplx by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Cascade Financial Partners LLC now owns 9,627 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $461,000 after buying an additional 420 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI purchased a new position in shares of Mplx during the fourth quarter valued at $362,000. Finally, Objectivity Squared LLC raised its position in Mplx by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Objectivity Squared LLC now owns 89,125 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,309,000 after buying an additional 2,246 shares during the period. 24.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.