Morgan Stanley Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Stock Price

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) had its price objective cut by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $62.00 to $60.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the pipeline company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 8.06% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also commented on MPLX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Mplx from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Mplx from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Mplx from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Mplx from a “buy (a)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mplx currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $61.60.

Mplx Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:MPLX traded down $0.06 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $55.53. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 273,342 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,931,945. Mplx has a 52 week low of $47.80 and a 52 week high of $59.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The company has a market capitalization of $56.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.03, a P/E/G ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.49. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $56.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $55.35.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.15). The business had revenue of $2.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.09 billion. Mplx had a net margin of 36.38% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.10 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Mplx will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Mplx

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Solstein Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Mplx during the third quarter worth $25,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in Mplx by 81.5% during the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 559 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. EQ Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Mplx during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Wiser Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in Mplx during the third quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in Mplx during the third quarter worth $39,000. 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.