Analysts Set Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) Target Price at $59.14

Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $60.8750.

MPLX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (a-)” rating on shares of Mplx in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Citigroup upped their price target on Mplx from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Mplx from $64.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Mplx from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Mplx from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th.

Mplx Price Performance

MPLX stock opened at $57.91 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.23. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $56.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $53.69. Mplx has a 52-week low of $44.60 and a 52-week high of $59.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $58.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.01, a PEG ratio of 5.29 and a beta of 0.56.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The pipeline company reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $5.99 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.23 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 34.37% and a net margin of 37.79%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.07 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Mplx will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 9th were given a $1.0765 dividend. This represents a $4.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. Mplx’s payout ratio is 89.42%.

Institutional Trading of Mplx

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Mplx by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 24,049 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,287,000 after purchasing an additional 939 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Mplx by 17.6% during the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 29,598 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,525,000 after purchasing an additional 4,439 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Mplx by 6.6% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,557 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $853,000 after buying an additional 1,021 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its stake in shares of Mplx by 2.2% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 53,036 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,732,000 after buying an additional 1,133 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in shares of Mplx by 11.6% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 187,629 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $9,665,000 after buying an additional 19,445 shares during the period. 24.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.