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 paid 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 8.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 2nd.

Mplx has raised its dividend by an average of 4.9% per year 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 tumble. Equities research analysts expect Mplx to earn $4.35 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 78.2%.

Mplx Stock Performance

Shares of Mplx stock opened at $41.96 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $40.66 and a 200 day moving average of $38.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.01 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.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The pipeline company reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.88 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 31.85% and a net margin of 34.82%. The company’s revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.78 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Mplx will post 4.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Mplx from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Raymond James upped their price target on Mplx from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays lifted their price objective on Mplx from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Mplx from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $43.86.

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.