StockNews.com Downgrades Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) to Buy

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Mplx from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $47.00 price objective on shares of Mplx in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Mplx from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Mplx from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $46.56.

Mplx Stock Up 1.1 %

MPLX stock traded up $0.49 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $44.69. 1,045,687 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,902,427. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $42.62 and its 200-day moving average is $41.71. The company has a market cap of $45.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.52, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Mplx has a 12 month low of $34.52 and a 12 month high of $44.74.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The pipeline company reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.96 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 32.68% and a net margin of 35.95%. Mplx’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.91 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Mplx will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Mplx

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mplx in the second quarter worth $826,000. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Mplx by 4.8% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 140,154 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $5,969,000 after purchasing an additional 6,469 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mplx by 6.8% during the second quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 22,758 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $969,000 after purchasing an additional 1,457 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its holdings in shares of Mplx by 12.6% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 16,888 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $719,000 after purchasing an additional 1,889 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mplx by 23.4% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 24,540 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,045,000 after purchasing an additional 4,660 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

About Mplx

MPLX LP owns and operates midstream energy infrastructure and logistics assets primarily in the United States. It operates in two segments, Logistics and Storage, and Gathering and Processing. The company is involved in the gathering, processing, and transportation of natural gas; gathering, transportation, fractionation, storage, and marketing of natural gas liquids; gathering, storage, transportation, and distribution of crude oil and refined products, as well as other hydrocarbon-based products and renewables; and sale of residue gas and condensate.