Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Lifted to Overweight at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Mplx (NYSE:MPLX – Get Rating) from a neutral rating to an overweight rating in a report published on Tuesday, The Fly reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has $41.00 price target on the pipeline company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $37.00.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Citigroup lifted their target price on Mplx from $33.50 to $35.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Mplx from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Monday, January 9th. StockNews.com downgraded Mplx from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report on Thursday, December 15th. Wolfe Research upgraded Mplx from a peer perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $36.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, January 9th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price objective on Mplx from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, February 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $38.50.

Mplx Stock Up 0.6 %

NYSE:MPLX opened at $34.67 on Tuesday. Mplx has a twelve month low of $27.47 and a twelve month high of $35.49. The company has a market cap of $34.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.25 and a beta of 1.44. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $34.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $33.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 31st. The pipeline company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.84 by ($0.06). Mplx had a return on equity of 30.16% and a net margin of 33.96%. The business had revenue of $2.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.78 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Mplx will post 3.47 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 6th were paid a $0.775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.94%. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.67%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mplx

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MPLX. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Mplx by 104,751.1% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 69,772,138 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,291,317,000 after acquiring an additional 69,705,594 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Mplx by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 20,674,484 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $678,950,000 after acquiring an additional 394,336 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG boosted its position in Mplx by 7.3% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 6,223,966 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $186,781,000 after buying an additional 425,425 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Mplx by 22.6% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 5,962,561 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $195,811,000 after buying an additional 1,099,407 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in Mplx by 6.5% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 5,266,977 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $174,758,000 after buying an additional 319,502 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 23.62% of the company’s stock.

Mplx Company Profile

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MPLX LP engages in the operation of midstream energy infrastructure and logistics assets, and distribution fuels services. It operates through the Logistics and Storage (L&S) and Gathering and Processing (G&P) segments. The Logistics and Storage segment transports, stores, distributes, and markets crude oil, asphalt, refined petroleum products, and water.