Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Stock Rating Lowered by 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 Saturday.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Bank of America assumed coverage on Mplx in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $43.00 target price on the stock. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Mplx from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Mplx from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mplx has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.56.

Mplx Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:MPLX opened at $48.42 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $49.33 billion, a PE ratio of 11.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $48.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.83. 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 $36.76 and a 12-month high of $51.94.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.04). Mplx had a return on equity of 32.70% and a net margin of 36.77%. The company had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.89 EPS. Mplx’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Mplx will post 4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were given a dividend of $0.9565 per share. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.90%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This is a positive change from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Mplx’s payout ratio is 90.09%.

Insider Transactions at Mplx

In other news, VP Carl Kristopher Hagedorn sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were 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 directly owns 14,750 shares in the company, valued at $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 is accessible through this link.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mplx

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ING Groep NV raised its stake in shares of Mplx by 69.8% in 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Mplx by 387.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 823,467 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $36,611,000 after acquiring an additional 654,500 shares in the last quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT lifted its holdings in Mplx by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT now owns 1,498,796 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $66,636,000 after acquiring an additional 217,674 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Mplx during the 3rd quarter valued at about $8,644,000. Finally, U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Mplx by 34.3% in the 3rd quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 464,179 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $20,637,000 after purchasing an additional 118,647 shares during the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.