Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the nine ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $52.11.

MPLX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their price objective on Mplx from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, November 18th.

Mplx Price Performance

Shares of MPLX opened at $53.17 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $54.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.63, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $51.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.56. Mplx has a 1-year low of $39.56 and a 1-year high of $54.79.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.03. Mplx had a net margin of 36.18% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The company had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.10 EPS. Mplx's revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Mplx will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.9565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.20%. Mplx's payout ratio is presently 90.74%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mplx

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. PFG Investments LLC increased its stake in Mplx by 38.5% in the fourth quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 38,506 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,843,000 after acquiring an additional 10,705 shares during the last quarter. Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC boosted its stake in Mplx by 479.6% in the fourth quarter. Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC now owns 153,600 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $7,351,000 after buying an additional 127,100 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC grew its position in Mplx by 387.5% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 23,543 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,047,000 after acquiring an additional 18,714 shares during the last quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA raised its stake in Mplx by 7.2% during the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 149,509 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $6,647,000 after acquiring an additional 10,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ING Groep NV raised its stake in Mplx by 69.8% during the third quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 6,628,400 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $294,699,000 after acquiring an additional 2,725,000 shares in the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is 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.

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