Barclays Issues Positive Forecast for Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Stock Price

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) had its price objective increased by investment analysts at Barclays from $49.00 to $52.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the pipeline company’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective indicates a potential upside of 6.34% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on MPLX. UBS Group raised their price objective on Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Mplx from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Mplx from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on Mplx in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $43.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.89.

Mplx Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE MPLX traded up $0.55 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $48.90. 174,474 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,367,805. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.99. The stock has a market cap of $49.82 billion, a PE ratio of 11.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.43. The company’s fifty day moving average is $48.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $44.85. Mplx has a fifty-two week low of $36.76 and a fifty-two week high of $51.94.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.04). Mplx had a net margin of 36.77% and a return on equity of 32.70%. The business had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.09 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.89 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Mplx will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mplx news, VP Carl Kristopher Hagedorn sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $696,790. The trade was a 21.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mplx

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. ING Groep NV grew its position in shares of Mplx by 69.8% in the third quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 6,628,400 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $294,699,000 after purchasing an additional 2,725,000 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP grew its position 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 valued at $255,003,000 after purchasing an additional 45,271 shares during the last quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Mplx by 0.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 34,659 shares during the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Mplx by 1.2% in the second quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 1,998,243 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $85,105,000 after purchasing an additional 24,091 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. grew its position in shares of Mplx by 4.9% in the third quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 1,933,486 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $85,963,000 after purchasing an additional 90,793 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.