Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. Decreases Stock Holdings in Mplx Lp $MPLX

Key Points

• Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. has decreased its stake in Mplx Lp by 3.5%, now holding approximately 13.72 million shares, making it the firm's second largest investment at 8.9% of their portfolio.
• Mplx recently reported $1.03 EPS in its quarterly earnings, falling short of analysts' expectations of $1.08, and its revenue of $2.79 billion was also below estimates.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.9565 per share, yielding around 7.6%, with a high dividend payout ratio of approximately 90.97%.

Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. decreased its stake in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) by 3.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,724,145 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 504,539 shares during the period. Mplx accounts for 8.9% of Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. owned approximately 1.34% of Mplx worth $734,516,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Rossby Financial LCC acquired a new stake in shares of Mplx during the first quarter worth $33,000. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mplx during the first quarter worth $37,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mplx during the first quarter worth $48,000. PSI Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 32.5% during the first quarter. PSI Advisors LLC now owns 1,100 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA acquired a new stake in shares of Mplx during the first quarter worth $65,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.25% of the company's stock.

Mplx Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MPLX traded down $0.4420 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $50.2880. 759,960 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,610,552. The firm has a market cap of $51.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.94, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.97. Mplx Lp has a twelve month low of $41.83 and a twelve month high of $54.87. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $50.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $51.43.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.05). Mplx had a net margin of 35.44% and a return on equity of 30.95%. The company had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.15 EPS. Mplx's quarterly revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 8th were issued a dividend of $0.9565 per share. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 8th. Mplx's dividend payout ratio is 90.97%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MPLX. Barclays lifted their target price on Mplx from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Wall Street Zen cut Mplx from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Mplx from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mplx has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $56.11.

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.