Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Citigroup Analyst Says

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) had its price objective raised by investment analysts at Citigroup from $55.00 to $56.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the pipeline company’s stock. Citigroup‘s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 0.15% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on MPLX. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Mplx from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Mplx from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (a)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Mplx from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Mplx from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Mplx from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mplx has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $63.90.

Mplx Stock Performance

MPLX stock traded down $0.64 during trading on Thursday, reaching $55.91. 1,912,434 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,281,950. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71. Mplx has a 1-year low of $50.22 and a 1-year high of $60.95. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $58.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $57.26. The firm has a market cap of $56.69 billion, a PE ratio of 13.06, a P/E/G ratio of 5.62 and a beta of 0.48.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The pipeline company reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 32.83% and a net margin of 35.75%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.52 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Mplx will post 4.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mplx

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Energy Income Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mplx in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $303,072,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Mplx during the second quarter worth approximately $1,094,000. Attessa Capital LLC acquired a new position in Mplx in the second quarter worth approximately $1,042,000. NEOS Investment Management LLC grew its position in Mplx by 45.5% in the second quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 486,025 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $27,378,000 after buying an additional 152,041 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Militia Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Mplx in the first quarter valued at $3,824,000. Institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

About Mplx

MPLX LP is a diversified midstream energy company formed by Marathon Petroleum in 2012. It owns and operates infrastructure that gathers, processes, transports and stores energy products, connecting producers and refiners with customers and markets.

The company’s assets include natural gas and natural gas liquids gathering and processing facilities, pipelines and fractionation plants, as well as crude oil and refined-product pipelines, storage terminals and inland marine transport operations.