Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Morgan Stanley Analyst Says

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) had its target price raised by Morgan Stanley from $56.00 to $62.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the pipeline company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective points to a potential upside of 16.81% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. StockNews.com cut shares of Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, March 2nd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Mplx from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.10.

Mplx Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:MPLX opened at $53.08 on Tuesday. Mplx has a 52-week low of $39.56 and a 52-week high of $54.79. The company has a market capitalization of $54.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.99.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. Mplx had a net margin of 36.18% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The business’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.10 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Mplx will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mplx

In related news, VP Shawn M. Lyon bought 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $52.75 per share, for a total transaction of $211,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 25,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,334,522.25. This represents a 18.78 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Institutional Trading of Mplx

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MPLX. ING Groep NV boosted its position in Mplx by 69.8% in the third quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 6,628,400 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $294,699,000 after buying an additional 2,725,000 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 141.1% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,985,181 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $95,011,000 after purchasing an additional 1,161,714 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 5,070.0% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 977,794 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $46,797,000 after purchasing an additional 958,881 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Mplx during the fourth quarter worth $41,917,000. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 221.9% during the fourth quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 643,995 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $30,822,000 after purchasing an additional 443,910 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

About Mplx

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.