Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Price Target Raised to $47.00

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) had its target price lifted by Stifel Nicolaus from $45.00 to $47.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the pipeline company’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Barclays upped their price target on Mplx from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Mplx from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of Mplx from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. UBS Group boosted their target price on Mplx from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Mplx from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $44.57.

Mplx Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of Mplx stock opened at $41.61 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $40.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.06 billion, a PE ratio of 10.72 and a beta of 1.35. Mplx has a 52-week low of $33.12 and a 52-week high of $42.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The pipeline company reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.01). Mplx had a return on equity of 32.13% and a net margin of 34.96%. The business had revenue of $2.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.89 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.91 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Mplx will post 4.08 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 3rd will be given a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 2nd. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.17%. Mplx’s payout ratio is 87.63%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mplx

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its position in Mplx by 18.9% in the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 28,771,793 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,023,413,000 after purchasing an additional 4,579,152 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Mplx by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 20,917,505 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $744,036,000 after purchasing an additional 809,273 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Mplx by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 6,463,737 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $237,348,000 after buying an additional 154,529 shares during the period. UBS Group AG raised its stake in shares of Mplx by 12.2% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 5,869,436 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $208,776,000 after buying an additional 639,199 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Mplx by 440.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,649,301 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $200,946,000 after buying an additional 4,604,066 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.