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

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded Mplx from a "buy" to a "hold" rating, influencing investor sentiment regarding the stock.
• Barclays increased its price target on Mplx shares from $52.00 to $53.00 and maintained an "overweight" rating, reflecting ongoing interest despite the downgrade.
• Mplx reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $1.10, exceeding estimates, but revenues fell short of expectations at $2.89 billion.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

Separately, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Mplx from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $55.63.

Mplx Stock Up 1.7%

Mplx stock traded up $0.89 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $52.74. The stock had a trading volume of 1,716,400 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,616,751. Mplx has a 12 month low of $39.95 and a 12 month high of $54.87. The company has a market capitalization of $53.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.18, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $51.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $51.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.03. Mplx had a return on equity of 32.08% and a net margin of 36.34%. The business had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Mplx will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mplx

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of MPLX. Creekmur Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Mplx by 43.7% during the second quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 19,545 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,007,000 after acquiring an additional 5,943 shares in the last quarter. IFG Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 23.0% during the second quarter. IFG Advisory LLC now owns 29,756 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,533,000 after purchasing an additional 5,571 shares during the period. Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 8.7% during the second quarter. Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc. now owns 72,930 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $3,757,000 after purchasing an additional 5,825 shares during the period. ELCO Management Co. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 1.5% during the second quarter. ELCO Management Co. LLC now owns 88,139 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $4,540,000 after purchasing an additional 1,321 shares during the period. Finally, Winebrenner Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 5.3% during the second quarter. Winebrenner Capital Management LLC now owns 5,928 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $305,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Mplx

MPLX LP engages in the operation of midstream energy infrastructure and logistics assets, and distribution fuels services. It operates through the Crude Oil and Products Logistics and Natural Gas and NGL Services segments. The Crude Oil and Products Logistics segment transports, stores, distributes, and markets crude oil, asphalt, refined petroleum products, and water.