Barclays Boosts Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Price Target to $43.00

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) had its price objective boosted by research analysts at Barclays from $40.00 to $43.00 in a research report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "overweight" rating on the pipeline company's stock. Barclays's target price suggests a potential upside of 2.04% from the company's current price.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Mplx from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com upgraded Mplx from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. UBS Group raised their target price on Mplx from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on Mplx from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Mplx currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $43.43.

Mplx Stock Performance

MPLX traded down $0.21 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $42.14. The stock had a trading volume of 1,986,744 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,131,287. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $39.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.33. Mplx has a 1 year low of $33.12 and a 1 year high of $42.89. The stock has a market cap of $42.59 billion, a PE ratio of 11.09 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The pipeline company reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.15. Mplx had a return on equity of 31.85% and a net margin of 34.82%. The company had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.88 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.78 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Mplx will post 4 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mplx

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Mplx by 104,751.1% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 69,772,138 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $2,291,317,000 after buying an additional 69,705,594 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Mplx by 440.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,649,301 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $200,946,000 after buying an additional 4,604,066 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Mplx by 18.9% during the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 28,771,793 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,023,413,000 after buying an additional 4,579,152 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Mplx by 519.6% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,298,506 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $148,083,000 after buying an additional 3,604,755 shares during the period. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Mplx during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $67,253,000. 24.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.