Brokerages Set Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) Price Target at $62.80

Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $62.80.

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Mplx from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Mplx from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Barclays lifted their price target on Mplx from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Mplx from $55.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Mplx from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Mplx by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 19,561,938 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $977,119,000 after acquiring an additional 143,361 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Mplx by 8.3% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 9,873,619 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $508,590,000 after acquiring an additional 757,569 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its position in Mplx by 23.7% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,763,110 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $307,577,000 after acquiring an additional 1,104,510 shares during the period. Energy Income Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Mplx by 2.1% during the third quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 5,659,885 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $282,711,000 after purchasing an additional 118,090 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG lifted its holdings in Mplx by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 5,304,746 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $283,114,000 after purchasing an additional 38,283 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Mplx Price Performance

NYSE:MPLX opened at $59.45 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $57.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $56.84. Mplx has a 1-year low of $47.80 and a 1-year high of $60.95. The firm has a market cap of $60.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.65 and a beta of 0.48.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06. The firm had revenue of $3.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.14 billion. Mplx had a net margin of 35.75% and a return on equity of 32.83%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.03 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Mplx will post 4.26 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 7th were given a $1.0765 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 7th. This represents a $4.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.2%. Mplx’s payout ratio is 92.47%.

About Mplx

MPLX LP (NYSE: MPLX) is a midstream master limited partnership that owns, operates and develops energy infrastructure primarily across the United States. The company provides a range of midstream services including the gathering, transportation, storage and distribution of crude oil, refined petroleum products, natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs). MPLX also operates processing and fractionation facilities and supplies logistics services that connect producers, refiners and end-use markets.

The partnership’s asset base includes pipelines, storage terminals, rail and marine facilities, natural gas processing plants and NGL fractionators.