Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) Receives $59.00 Average Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $59.00.

MPLX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Raymond James Financial lowered Mplx from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Mplx from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Mplx from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Mplx from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Mplx from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th.

Mplx Price Performance

NYSE MPLX opened at $55.77 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $54.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $51.91. Mplx has a 52 week low of $44.60 and a 52 week high of $57.15. The stock has a market cap of $56.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.95 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.45. Mplx had a return on equity of 34.14% and a net margin of 37.61%.The business had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.16 billion. Analysts forecast that Mplx will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Mplx

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new position in Mplx during the third quarter worth about $134,319,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of Mplx by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 9,873,619 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $508,590,000 after purchasing an additional 757,569 shares in the last quarter. Natixis grew its stake in shares of Mplx by 1,585.3% in the 2nd quarter. Natixis now owns 403,758 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $20,798,000 after purchasing an additional 379,800 shares during the last quarter. Merewether Investment Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Mplx in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $16,988,000. Finally, Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Mplx by 1.2% during the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 26,409,654 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,319,162,000 after purchasing an additional 325,451 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Mplx Company Profile

MPLX LP (NYSE: MPLX) is a midstream master limited partnership that owns, operates and develops energy infrastructure primarily across the United States. The company provides a range of midstream services including the gathering, transportation, storage and distribution of crude oil, refined petroleum products, natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs). MPLX also operates processing and fractionation facilities and supplies logistics services that connect producers, refiners and end-use markets.

The partnership’s asset base includes pipelines, storage terminals, rail and marine facilities, natural gas processing plants and NGL fractionators.