Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $1.08

Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 9th will be paid a dividend of 1.0765 per share by the pipeline company on Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 9th.

Mplx has raised its dividend by an average of 0.1%annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 9 consecutive years. Mplx has a payout ratio of 88.7% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings decline. Research analysts expect Mplx to earn $4.66 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.30 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 92.3%.

Mplx Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of MPLX traded down $0.27 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $55.97. The stock had a trading volume of 162,436 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,414,715. The business’s fifty day moving average is $54.43 and its 200 day moving average is $51.97. Mplx has a 52-week low of $44.60 and a 52-week high of $57.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.31 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market cap of $56.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.86, a P/E/G ratio of 5.04 and a beta of 0.56.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.45. The firm had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.16 billion. Mplx had a net margin of 37.61% and a return on equity of 34.14%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Mplx will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mplx

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wealthstar Advisors LLC lifted its position in Mplx by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Wealthstar Advisors LLC now owns 12,598 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $672,000 after buying an additional 190 shares during the period. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Mplx by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 25,498 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,361,000 after purchasing an additional 623 shares during the period. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mplx by 15.7% during the fourth quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 42,630 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,275,000 after purchasing an additional 5,769 shares in the last quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mplx in the fourth quarter worth about $235,000. Finally, UBS Group AG grew its stake in shares of Mplx by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 5,304,746 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $283,114,000 after buying an additional 38,283 shares in the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Mplx

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.