Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI Purchases New Stake in MPLX LP $MPLX

Key Points

• Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI purchased 42,400 shares of MPLX LP valued at approximately $2,269,000 as part of their new stake in the company.
• MPLX recently reported quarterly earnings of $1.03 EPS, missing expectations, with a revenue of $2.79 billion, down 1.6% from the previous year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.9565, representing an annualized yield of 7.6%, with a payout ratio of 90.97%.

Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI bought a new position in shares of MPLX LP (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 42,400 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $2,269,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in MPLX by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 162,113 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $7,759,000 after buying an additional 16,574 shares during the period. Progeny 3 Inc. raised its holdings in MPLX by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Progeny 3 Inc. now owns 1,036,859 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $49,624,000 after buying an additional 21,400 shares during the period. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in MPLX in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $258,000. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in MPLX by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 883,566 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $42,288,000 after buying an additional 43,972 shares during the period. Finally, State of Wyoming raised its holdings in MPLX by 368.2% in the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 6,864 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $329,000 after buying an additional 5,398 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.25% of the company's stock.

MPLX Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of MPLX traded up $0.20 during trading on Friday, reaching $51.04. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,382,783 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,208,496. The company has a fifty day moving average of $50.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $51.17. MPLX LP has a twelve month low of $43.35 and a twelve month high of $54.87. The company has a market cap of $52.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40.

MPLX (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.03 earnings per share (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 period in the previous year, the company earned $1.15 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that MPLX LP will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MPLX Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors 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 7.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 8th. MPLX's dividend payout ratio is currently 90.97%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on MPLX shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of MPLX from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target 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. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of MPLX from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, Barclays boosted 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. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $55.89.

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.