Royal Bank of Canada Issues Positive Forecast for Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Stock Price

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

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Mplx from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Mplx from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Mplx in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $43.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.67.

Mplx Stock Performance

Shares of MPLX stock opened at $47.46 on Monday. 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 one year low of $35.51 and a one year high of $47.62. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $44.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.19, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.37.

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

Mplx Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a dividend of $0.9565 per share. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.06%. This is a boost from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.33%.

Institutional Trading of Mplx

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MPLX. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Mplx during the first quarter worth approximately $41,000. CWM LLC boosted its stake in Mplx by 73.3% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,066 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 451 shares during the period. Summit Securities Group LLC boosted its stake in Mplx by 450.0% in the 2nd quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC now owns 1,100 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the period. Cedar Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Mplx in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $51,000. Finally, Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in Mplx in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $67,000. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by 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.