JPMorgan Chase & Co. Raises Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Price Target to $46.00

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) had its price target increased by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $45.00 to $46.00 in a research report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the pipeline company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on MPLX. StockNews.com cut shares of Mplx from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Mplx from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Mplx from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Mplx from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Mplx from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $45.11.

Mplx Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Mplx stock traded up $0.15 during trading on Friday, hitting $41.27. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,138,245 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,175,653. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.67. Mplx has a 52 week low of $33.12 and a 52 week high of $42.90. The stock has a market cap of $41.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.60 and a beta of 1.35. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $40.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.21.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The pipeline company reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $2.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.89 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 31.70% and a net margin of 34.96%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.91 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Mplx will post 4.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 13th. Investors of record on Friday, May 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.24%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 2nd. Mplx’s payout ratio is 87.63%.

Institutional Trading of Mplx

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 4,604,066 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Mplx by 18.9% during the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 28,771,793 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,023,413,000 after acquiring an additional 4,579,152 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in Mplx during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $67,253,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Mplx by 18.3% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 6,309,208 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $224,419,000 after acquiring an additional 976,033 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Mplx by 4.0% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 20,917,505 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $744,036,000 after acquiring an additional 809,273 shares in 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.