Mplx Lp (MPLX) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.85 on May 13th

Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 23rd, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.85 per share by the pipeline company on Monday, May 13th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 2nd.

Mplx has increased its dividend by an average of 4.9% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 10 years. Mplx has a dividend payout ratio of 78.9% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings decline. Equities analysts expect Mplx to earn $4.36 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 78.0%.

Mplx Stock Performance

NYSE MPLX opened at $41.70 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.96 and a beta of 1.35. Mplx has a fifty-two week low of $33.12 and a fifty-two week high of $42.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.07.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The pipeline company reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.88 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 31.85% and a net margin of 34.82%. Mplx’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.78 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Mplx will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on MPLX shares. StockNews.com raised Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. UBS Group raised their price objective on Mplx from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Mplx from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Mplx from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Mplx from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.86.

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.