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

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 is Thursday, May 2nd.

Mplx has increased its dividend payment by an average of 4.9% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 10 consecutive 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 fall. 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 Trading Down 0.2 %

MPLX opened at $41.70 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $40.48 and its 200-day moving average is $37.92. Mplx has a 1-year low of $33.12 and a 1-year high of $42.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. The company has a market cap of $42.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.96 and a beta of 1.35.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The pipeline company reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.15. Mplx had a net margin of 34.82% and a return on equity of 31.85%. The company had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.88 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.78 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Mplx will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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