Royal Bank of Canada Boosts Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Price Target to $52.00

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) had its target price upped by Royal Bank of Canada from $50.00 to $52.00 in a report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the pipeline company’s stock.

MPLX has been the topic of several other research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Mplx from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Mplx from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Mplx in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $43.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Mplx currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.44.

Mplx Price Performance

MPLX stock opened at $48.27 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $44.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.38, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.37. Mplx has a 12-month low of $35.51 and a 12-month high of $48.49.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.09 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 32.70% and a net margin of 36.77%. Mplx’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Mplx will post 4.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a dividend of $0.9565 per share. This is an increase from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.33%.

Insider Activity at Mplx

In other Mplx news, VP Carl Kristopher Hagedorn sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.24, for a total transaction of $188,960.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $696,790. This represents a 21.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. grew its position in Mplx by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 14,825,905 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $631,435,000 after purchasing an additional 353,324 shares during the period. ING Groep NV boosted its stake in shares of Mplx by 69.8% in the 3rd quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 6,628,400 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $294,699,000 after buying an additional 2,725,000 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Mplx by 0.8% in the third quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 5,735,562 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $255,003,000 after acquiring an additional 45,271 shares during the period. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC increased its position in Mplx by 0.6% during the third quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 5,580,052 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $248,089,000 after acquiring an additional 34,659 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Energy Income Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Mplx by 5.1% in the first quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 5,224,918 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $217,148,000 after acquiring an additional 255,211 shares during the period. 24.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.