Wells Fargo & Company Issues Positive Forecast for Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Stock Price

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) had its price objective increased by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $53.00 to $54.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the pipeline company’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price would indicate a potential upside of 13.21% from the company’s current price.

MPLX has been the topic of several other research reports. Barclays upped their price target on Mplx from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Mplx from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Mplx from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on Mplx in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $43.00 target price on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mplx has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.56.

Mplx Stock Performance

Shares of Mplx stock opened at $47.70 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. Mplx has a 1 year low of $36.27 and a 1 year high of $51.94. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $46.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $44.01. The company has a market cap of $48.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.23, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.42.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). The company had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.09 billion. Mplx had a net margin of 36.77% and a return on equity of 32.70%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.89 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Mplx will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Carl Kristopher Hagedorn sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.24, for a total transaction 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 represents a 21.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mplx

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its stake in shares of Mplx by 0.4% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 60,475 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,689,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Mplx by 1.4% in the third quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 19,701 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $876,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Mplx by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 14,204 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $632,000 after buying an additional 279 shares during the period. FORA Capital LLC lifted its stake in Mplx by 2.2% in the third quarter. FORA Capital LLC now owns 15,320 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $681,000 after purchasing an additional 332 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fidelis Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 3.9% in the third quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 9,032 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $396,000 after purchasing an additional 338 shares during the period. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Mplx Company Profile

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.