Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Hits New 52-Week High at $42.90

Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $42.90 and last traded at $42.03, with a volume of 1130150 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.96.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on MPLX shares. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Mplx from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James raised their price target on Mplx from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Mplx from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Mplx from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.86.

Mplx Trading Up 0.4 %

The company has a market capitalization of $42.59 billion, a PE ratio of 11.01 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.07.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The pipeline company reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.15. Mplx had a net margin of 34.82% and a return on equity of 31.85%. The business had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.88 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.78 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Mplx Lp will post 4.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 3rd will be paid a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 2nd. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.07%. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 89.24%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MPLX. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Mplx by 440.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,649,301 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $200,946,000 after acquiring an additional 4,604,066 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Mplx by 18.9% in the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 28,771,793 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,023,413,000 after purchasing an additional 4,579,152 shares during the period. Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Mplx during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $67,253,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Mplx by 18.3% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 6,309,208 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $224,419,000 after buying an additional 976,033 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Mplx by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 20,917,505 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $744,036,000 after buying an additional 809,273 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

About Mplx

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.