229,419 Shares in MPLX LP $MPLX Bought by Nuveen LLC

Key Points

• Nuveen LLC has acquired 229,419 shares of MPLX LP, valued at approximately $12,279,000, marking a new position for the firm in the pipeline company.
• MPLX's quarterly earnings revealed EPS of $1.03, which fell short of analysts' expectations of $1.08, alongside a revenue of $2.79 billion against a forecast of $3.13 billion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.9565, which yields 7.6% based on an annualized rate of $3.83, with a payout ratio of 90.97%.

Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of MPLX LP (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 229,419 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $12,279,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Rossby Financial LCC bought a new position in shares of MPLX during the first quarter worth about $33,000. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of MPLX during the first quarter worth about $37,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of MPLX during the first quarter worth about $48,000. PSI Advisors LLC grew its stake in MPLX by 32.5% in the first quarter. PSI Advisors LLC now owns 1,100 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA bought a new position in MPLX in the first quarter valued at approximately $65,000. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MPLX Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MPLX traded down $0.70 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $50.07. 1,639,925 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,531,178. The company's 50 day moving average is $50.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $51.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.02 billion, a PE ratio of 11.89, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. MPLX LP has a 52 week low of $41.83 and a 52 week high of $54.87.

MPLX (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. MPLX had a net margin of 35.44% and a return on equity of 30.95%. The business's revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.15 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that MPLX LP will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

MPLX Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th were given a dividend of $0.9565 per share. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 8th. MPLX's dividend payout ratio is presently 90.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MPLX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on MPLX from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on MPLX from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Barclays raised their price target on MPLX from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded MPLX from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $55.89.

MPLX Company Profile

MPLX LP engages in the operation of midstream energy infrastructure and logistics assets, and distribution fuels services. It operates through the Crude Oil and Products Logistics and Natural Gas and NGL Services segments. The Crude Oil and Products Logistics segment transports, stores, distributes, and markets crude oil, asphalt, refined petroleum products, and water.