Invesco Ltd. Reduces Stock Position in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Key Points

• Invesco Ltd. decreased its stake in Mplx Lp by 4.3%, selling 910,805 shares, and now holds approximately 20 million shares valued at over $1 billion.
• Mplx's recent quarterly earnings reported an EPS of $1.03, which fell short of analysts' expectations of $1.08, along with a revenue decline to $2.79 billion from the previous year's $2.83 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.9565 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 7.6% with an upcoming payment date set for August 15th.

Invesco Ltd. lowered its holdings in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) by 4.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,052,988 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 910,805 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned approximately 1.96% of Mplx worth $1,073,236,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MPLX. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC lifted its holdings in Mplx by 108.7% during the 1st quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC now owns 47,968 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $2,567,000 after purchasing an additional 24,989 shares in the last quarter. True North Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Mplx during the 1st quarter worth about $482,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Mplx by 14.9% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,045,968 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $270,060,000 after purchasing an additional 654,489 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Mplx by 11.4% during the 1st quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,751 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $415,000 after purchasing an additional 793 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. lifted its holdings in Mplx by 17.4% during the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 542,089 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $29,013,000 after purchasing an additional 80,245 shares in the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on MPLX shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Mplx from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Mplx from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $55.63.

Mplx Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of Mplx stock traded down $0.07 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $49.78. The company's stock had a trading volume of 155,203 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,616,297. Mplx Lp has a 52-week low of $40.73 and a 52-week high of $54.87. The company has a market cap of $50.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.81, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.73. The firm's 50-day moving average is $51.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $51.57. 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 (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.05). Mplx had a net margin of 35.44% and a return on equity of 30.95%. The business had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.15 EPS. Mplx's revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 8th will be given a dividend of $0.9565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 8th. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.7%. Mplx's dividend payout ratio is presently 90.97%.

Mplx 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.