Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Lowered to Hold Rating by Wall Street Zen

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Sunday.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Mplx from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (a-)” rating on shares of Mplx in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Mplx from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.14.

Mplx Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MPLX opened at $58.49 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $59.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.14, a P/E/G ratio of 5.30 and a beta of 0.56. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $56.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $53.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.23. Mplx has a 52-week low of $44.60 and a 52-week high of $59.84.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The pipeline company reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.07. Mplx had a return on equity of 34.37% and a net margin of 37.79%.The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.07 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Mplx will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Mplx

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MPLX. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Mplx by 2.2% during the third quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 5,611,824 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $280,311,000 after purchasing an additional 120,216 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC purchased a new stake in Mplx in the third quarter valued at about $2,698,000. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH acquired a new stake in Mplx in the third quarter worth about $990,000. Bridges Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Mplx by 53.2% during the third quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. now owns 103,351 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $5,162,000 after acquiring an additional 35,869 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis grew its stake in shares of Mplx by 1,585.3% during the second quarter. Natixis now owns 403,758 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $20,798,000 after acquiring an additional 379,800 shares during the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.