Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Price Target to $59.00

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) had its price objective lowered by Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $59.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the pipeline company’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Mplx from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Mplx from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Mplx from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.89.

Mplx Stock Up 0.5%

MPLX stock opened at $51.39 on Tuesday. Mplx has a 52-week low of $43.53 and a 52-week high of $54.87. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $50.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.74.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.05). Mplx had a return on equity of 30.95% and a net margin of 35.44%.The company had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.15 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Mplx will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 8th were given a $0.9565 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 8th. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.4%. Mplx’s payout ratio is 90.97%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mplx

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its position in Mplx by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 21,520 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,030,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Mplx by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 93,181 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,460,000 after purchasing an additional 7,792 shares during the last quarter. Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC raised its position in Mplx by 37.4% in the 1st quarter. Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC now owns 211,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $11,293,000 after purchasing an additional 57,400 shares during the last quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. raised its stake in shares of Mplx by 1.8% during the first quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 32,476 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,738,000 after buying an additional 564 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Mplx by 14.5% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 7,943 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $425,000 after buying an additional 1,003 shares during the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Mplx Company Profile

MPLX LP engages in the operation of midstream energy infrastructure and logistics assets, and distribution fuels services. It operates through the Crude Oil and Products Logistics and Natural Gas and NGL Services segments. The Crude Oil and Products Logistics segment transports, stores, distributes, and markets crude oil, asphalt, refined petroleum products, and water.