Acadian Asset Management LLC Trims 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 trimmed its position in MPLX LP (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) by 14.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 156,245 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 26,613 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC's holdings in MPLX were worth $8,359,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Belpointe Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in MPLX during the 1st quarter worth about $1,000,000. Integrity Alliance LLC. acquired a new stake in MPLX during the 1st quarter worth about $712,000. Glenview Trust co acquired a new stake in MPLX during the 1st quarter worth about $214,000. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI acquired a new stake in MPLX during the 1st quarter worth about $2,269,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in MPLX by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 13,649,224 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $730,506,000 after purchasing an additional 83,392 shares during the period. 24.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MPLX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays raised their target price on MPLX from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on MPLX from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on MPLX from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut MPLX from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Seven 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $55.89.

MPLX Price Performance

MPLX traded up $0.28 during trading on Monday, reaching $51.36. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,429,099 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,172,922. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $50.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $51.13. MPLX LP has a 1 year low of $43.53 and a 1 year high of $54.87. The company has a market cap of $52.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.20, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.74.

MPLX (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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 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 business earned $1.15 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th were given a dividend of $0.9565 per share. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 8th. MPLX's 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.