Jennison Associates LLC Reduces Holdings in Mplx Lp $MPLX

Key Points

• Jennison Associates trimmed its stake in MPLX by 12.8% during Q4, selling 98,304 shares and finishing the quarter with 670,327 shares worth about $35.78 million.
• MPLX declared a quarterly dividend of $1.0765 (annualized $4.31) with an ex-dividend date of May 8, implying a 7.6% yield.
• Analysts maintain a Moderate Buy consensus on MPLX with a consensus target price of $62, and several firms recently raised targets into the low $60s (Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Barclays).

Jennison Associates LLC trimmed its stake in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) by 12.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 670,327 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 98,304 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC owned approximately 0.07% of Mplx worth $35,775,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MPLX. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Mplx in the 3rd quarter valued at $134,319,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of Mplx by 8.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 9,873,619 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $508,590,000 after buying an additional 757,569 shares during the last quarter. Merewether Investment Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Mplx in the 2nd quarter valued at $16,988,000. Alps Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Mplx by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 26,409,654 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,319,162,000 after buying an additional 325,451 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in shares of Mplx by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 7,060,024 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $352,648,000 after buying an additional 300,321 shares during the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on MPLX. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Mplx from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Mplx from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Mplx from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $62.00.

Mplx Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE MPLX opened at $56.56 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. Mplx Lp has a 52 week low of $47.80 and a 52 week high of $59.98. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $57.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $54.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 0.49.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The pipeline company reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.07. Mplx had a net margin of 37.79% and a return on equity of 34.37%. The firm had revenue of $5.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.07 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 8th will be issued a $1.0765 dividend. This represents a $4.31 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 8th. Mplx's dividend payout ratio is 89.42%.

Mplx Company Profile

MPLX LP NYSE: MPLX is a midstream master limited partnership that owns, operates and develops energy infrastructure primarily across the United States. The company provides a range of midstream services including the gathering, transportation, storage and distribution of crude oil, refined petroleum products, natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs). MPLX also operates processing and fractionation facilities and supplies logistics services that connect producers, refiners and end-use markets.

The partnership's asset base includes pipelines, storage terminals, rail and marine facilities, natural gas processing plants and NGL fractionators.

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