Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) Increases Dividend to $0.96 Per Share

Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, October 29th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th will be given a dividend of 0.9565 per share by the pipeline company on Friday, November 15th. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.62%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This is a boost from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85.

Mplx has increased its dividend by an average of 4.9% annually over the last three years. Mplx has a payout ratio of 77.1% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings decline. Analysts expect Mplx to earn $4.51 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 75.4%.

Mplx Stock Down 0.8 %

MPLX stock opened at $44.37 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $43.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.32. Mplx has a 12 month low of $35.06 and a 12 month high of $45.24. The company has a market cap of $45.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The pipeline company reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.96 billion. Mplx had a net margin of 35.95% and a return on equity of 32.68%. Mplx’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.91 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Mplx will post 4.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MPLX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Mplx from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Mplx from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Mplx in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $43.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Mplx from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Mplx from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.67.

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.