Mplx Lp to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.85 (NYSE:MPLX)

Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, July 30th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th will be paid a dividend of 0.85 per share by the pipeline company on Friday, August 16th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 9th.

Mplx has raised its dividend payment by an average of 4.9% per year over the last three years. Mplx has a payout ratio of 78.9% indicating that 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 $4.32 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 78.7%.

Mplx Stock Performance

Shares of MPLX stock opened at $42.81 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $41.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.59. Mplx has a one year low of $34.32 and a one year high of $43.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.72.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The pipeline company reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $2.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.89 billion. Mplx had a net margin of 34.96% and a return on equity of 31.70%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.91 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Mplx will post 4.02 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on MPLX shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on Mplx from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Mplx from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Mplx from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Mplx from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Mplx currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.75.

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.