UBS Group Boosts Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Price Target to $51.00

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) had its price objective upped by UBS Group from $49.00 to $51.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the pipeline company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on MPLX. 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. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target 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. StockNews.com upgraded Mplx from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report on Sunday, August 11th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of Mplx from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 16th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Mplx has a consensus rating of Buy and an average price target of $46.56.

Mplx Price Performance

Shares of Mplx stock opened at $44.20 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $42.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.67. Mplx has a fifty-two week low of $34.52 and a fifty-two week high of $44.59. 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 cap of $44.92 billion, a PE ratio of 11.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.37.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted 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. The business had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.96 billion. Mplx had a net margin of 35.95% and a return on equity of 32.68%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.91 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Mplx will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.69%. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 87.63%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. lifted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 2.4% during the second quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 14,825,905 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $631,435,000 after purchasing an additional 353,324 shares during the period. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Mplx by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 5,545,393 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $236,178,000 after buying an additional 136,013 shares during the period. Energy Income Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Mplx by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 5,224,918 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $217,148,000 after buying an additional 255,211 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Mplx by 4.0% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 5,200,759 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $216,144,000 after buying an additional 201,500 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its position in shares of Mplx by 23.4% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 3,028,327 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $111,200,000 after acquiring an additional 574,737 shares during the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.