Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) Receives $46.33 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Buy” by the nine brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $46.33.

MPLX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $47.00 target price on shares of Mplx in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 11th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Mplx from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Mplx from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday.

Mplx Stock Performance

Shares of MPLX opened at $43.83 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $42.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.57. Mplx has a one year low of $34.52 and a one year high of $44.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a market capitalization of $44.54 billion, a PE ratio of 11.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.37.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The pipeline company reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.17. Mplx had a net margin of 35.95% and a return on equity of 32.68%. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.96 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.91 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Mplx will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were given a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is 87.63%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Mplx during the second quarter worth $826,000. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in Mplx by 4.8% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 140,154 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $5,969,000 after purchasing an additional 6,469 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its stake in Mplx by 6.8% in the second quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 22,758 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $969,000 after acquiring an additional 1,457 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in Mplx by 12.6% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 16,888 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $719,000 after acquiring an additional 1,889 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Mplx by 23.4% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 24,540 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,045,000 after acquiring an additional 4,660 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.