Acadian Asset Management LLC Lowers Stock Position in Mplx Lp $MPLX

Key Points

• Acadian Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in Mplx Lp by 14.6%, having sold 26,613 shares, bringing its total holdings to 156,245 shares valued at approximately $8.36 million.
• The company experienced a miss in earnings with reported EPS of $1.03 against an estimate of $1.08, alongside a revenue of $2.79 billion versus expectations of $3.13 billion.
• Mplx announced a quarterly dividend of $0.9565, representing an annualized yield of 7.5%, with a payout ratio of 90.97%.

Acadian Asset Management LLC decreased its holdings in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) by 14.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 156,245 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 26,613 shares during the quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC's holdings in Mplx were worth $8,359,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Mplx by 0.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 13,649,224 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $730,506,000 after purchasing an additional 83,392 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP raised its holdings in Mplx by 38.2% in the first quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 7,788,063 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $416,817,000 after acquiring an additional 2,153,490 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in Mplx by 0.7% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 6,955,456 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $372,256,000 after acquiring an additional 50,979 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Mplx by 14.9% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,045,968 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $270,060,000 after acquiring an additional 654,489 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its holdings in Mplx by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 2,279,124 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $109,079,000 after acquiring an additional 108,228 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.25% of the company's stock.

Mplx Stock Down 0.3%

MPLX stock traded down $0.17 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $50.84. 504,921 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,580,766. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.03. Mplx Lp has a 1-year low of $43.53 and a 1-year high of $54.87. 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 market cap of $51.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.74.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). Mplx had a return on equity of 30.95% and a net margin of 35.44%.The company had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.15 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 8th. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.5%. Mplx's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 90.97%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Mplx from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Mplx from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Mplx from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Mplx from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price 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.