MPLX LP $MPLX Shares Purchased by Chickasaw Capital Management LLC

Key Points

• Chickasaw Capital Management LLC increased its stake in MPLX LP by 0.1%, owning approximately 5.49 million shares valued at $282.87 million, making it the firm's third largest position.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.9565 per share, which translates to an annualized yield of 7.5% and a payout ratio of 90.97%.
• MPLX reported a net margin of 35.44% and earnings per share of $1.03, which fell short of analysts' expectations, as revenue declined 1.6% year-over-year.

Chickasaw Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in MPLX LP (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) by 0.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,491,608 shares of the pipeline company's stock after purchasing an additional 5,691 shares during the quarter. MPLX comprises about 11.2% of Chickasaw Capital Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.54% of MPLX worth $282,873,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MPLX. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of MPLX by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 883,566 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $42,288,000 after purchasing an additional 43,972 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming lifted its position in MPLX by 368.2% during the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 6,864 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $329,000 after acquiring an additional 5,398 shares during the period. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. lifted its position in MPLX by 15.4% during the 4th quarter. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. now owns 58,775 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $2,813,000 after acquiring an additional 7,822 shares during the period. First Heartland Consultants Inc. lifted its position in MPLX by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. First Heartland Consultants Inc. now owns 9,857 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $472,000 after acquiring an additional 408 shares during the period. Finally, Novem Group acquired a new stake in MPLX during the 4th quarter worth about $814,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.25% of the company's stock.

MPLX Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of MPLX stock opened at $50.99 on Thursday. MPLX LP has a 1-year low of $43.53 and a 1-year high of $54.87. The stock has a market cap of $51.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.74. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $50.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.13. 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 (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.03 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 analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.15 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that MPLX LP will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MPLX Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 8th were paid a dividend of $0.9565 per share. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 8th. MPLX's dividend payout ratio is 90.97%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on MPLX shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on MPLX from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Barclays lifted their price target on MPLX from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on MPLX from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut MPLX from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MPLX presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $55.89.

About MPLX

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.

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