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

Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 30th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders 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 of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This is an increase from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85.

Mplx has increased its dividend by an average of 4.9% per year 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. Equities research 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 Performance

MPLX traded down $0.37 on Wednesday, hitting $44.37. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,984,626 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,818,582. The firm has a market cap of $45.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.37. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.31. Mplx has a 12 month low of $35.06 and a 12 month high of $45.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on Mplx from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Mplx from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Bank of America began coverage on Mplx in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $43.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded Mplx from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Mplx from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mplx presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.67.

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.