Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report published on Wednesday.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Mplx from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Mplx from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Mplx from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays boosted their price objective on Mplx from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Mplx from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Mplx currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $44.57.

Mplx Price Performance

MPLX stock opened at $41.61 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $40.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.13. Mplx has a 12-month low of $33.12 and a 12-month high of $42.90. 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 company has a market cap of $42.06 billion, a PE ratio of 10.92 and a beta of 1.35.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The pipeline company reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.01). Mplx had a net margin of 34.82% and a return on equity of 31.85%. The firm had revenue of $2.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.89 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.91 EPS. Mplx’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Mplx will post 4.1 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 13th. Investors of record on Friday, May 3rd will be paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.17%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 2nd. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 89.24%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MPLX. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Mplx by 440.5% in 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 in the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 4,579,152 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in Mplx in the fourth quarter valued at about $67,253,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Mplx by 18.3% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 6,309,208 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $224,419,000 after buying an additional 976,033 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Mplx by 4.0% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 20,917,505 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $744,036,000 after buying an additional 809,273 shares during 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.