Barclays Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Stock

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

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on MPLX. UBS Group upped their target price on Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. StockNews.com cut Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Mplx from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Bank of America started coverage on Mplx in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $43.00 target price for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Mplx has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.89.

Mplx Price Performance

Shares of MPLX stock traded up $0.55 during trading on Monday, hitting $48.90. The company had a trading volume of 174,474 shares, 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 firm has a market capitalization of $49.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.43. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $48.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $44.85. Mplx has a one year low of $36.76 and a one year high of $51.94.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Carl Kristopher Hagedorn sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.24, for a total value of $188,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,750 shares in the company, valued at $696,790. This trade represents a 21.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Institutional Trading of Mplx

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MPLX. Cedar Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mplx in the 3rd quarter valued at about $51,000. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in Mplx in the 2nd quarter valued at about $67,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in Mplx by 393.0% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,451 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $153,000 after acquiring an additional 2,751 shares in the last quarter. Zhang Financial LLC bought a new position in Mplx in the 3rd quarter valued at about $202,000. Finally, Alpha Cubed Investments LLC bought a new position in Mplx in the 3rd quarter valued at about $204,000. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mplx Company Profile

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.