Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Reaches New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $49.00 to $51.00. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Mplx traded as high as $44.53 and last traded at $44.53, with a volume of 382103 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $44.05.

MPLX has been the subject of several other research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $47.00 price target on shares of Mplx in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 11th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Mplx from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Mplx from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $46.56.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mplx

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MPLX. Quent Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mplx during the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Mplx during the first quarter worth about $41,000. Pacifica Partners Inc. bought a new position in Mplx in the 1st quarter valued at about $41,000. Register Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mplx in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 73.3% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,066 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 451 shares during the period. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Mplx Price Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average is $42.57 and its 200-day moving average is $41.67. The firm has a market cap of $44.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41.

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

Mplx Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 9th were paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. Mplx’s payout ratio is 87.63%.

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.