Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Rating Lowered to “Buy” at StockNews.com

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Sunday.

MPLX has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Mplx from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.11.

Mplx Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MPLX opened at $54.22 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.44. 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 has a 52 week low of $39.01 and a 52 week high of $54.79. The firm has a market cap of $55.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.42.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.03. Mplx had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 36.18%. The company had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Mplx will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mplx

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Mplx by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 21,520 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,030,000 after acquiring an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. Alpine Global Management LLC bought a new position in Mplx during the fourth quarter worth about $292,000. Novem Group bought a new position in Mplx during the fourth quarter worth about $814,000. First Heartland Consultants Inc. boosted its holdings in Mplx by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. First Heartland Consultants Inc. now owns 9,857 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $472,000 after purchasing an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. grew its stake in shares of Mplx by 15.4% in the 4th quarter. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. now owns 58,775 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,813,000 after purchasing an additional 7,822 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.