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

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

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on MPLX. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Mplx from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Mplx from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Mplx in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $43.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group raised 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mplx currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.44.

Mplx Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MPLX opened at $48.27 on Friday. 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 has a market capitalization of $49.18 billion, a PE ratio of 11.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.37. Mplx has a twelve month low of $35.51 and a twelve month high of $48.49. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $44.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.89.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.09 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 32.70% and a net margin of 36.77%. Mplx’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.89 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Mplx will post 4.31 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mplx news, VP Carl Kristopher Hagedorn sold 4,000 shares of Mplx stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $696,790. This trade represents a 21.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. grew its holdings in shares of Mplx by 2.4% in the second quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 14,825,905 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $631,435,000 after purchasing an additional 353,324 shares during the last quarter. ING Groep NV grew its holdings in shares of Mplx by 69.8% in the third quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 6,628,400 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $294,699,000 after purchasing an additional 2,725,000 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Mplx by 0.8% in the third quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 5,735,562 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $255,003,000 after purchasing an additional 45,271 shares during the last quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mplx by 0.6% in the third quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 5,580,052 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $248,089,000 after purchasing an additional 34,659 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Energy Income Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mplx by 5.1% in the first quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 5,224,918 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $217,148,000 after purchasing an additional 255,211 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Mplx Company Profile

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.