Jennison Associates LLC Sells 125,257 Shares of Mplx Lp $MPLX

Jennison Associates LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) by 18.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 545,070 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 125,257 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC owned about 0.05% of Mplx worth $31,107,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Mplx by 23.7% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,763,110 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $307,577,000 after buying an additional 1,104,510 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Mplx by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 9,873,619 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $508,590,000 after acquiring an additional 757,569 shares during the period. Merewether Investment Management LP bought a new stake in Mplx during the 2nd quarter valued at $16,988,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Mplx by 98.9% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 559,598 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $29,698,000 after acquiring an additional 278,263 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Opal Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mplx during the fourth quarter worth $11,730,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MPLX shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Mplx from $55.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Zacks Research upgraded Mplx from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Barclays upped their price target on Mplx from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Mplx in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Mplx from a “buy (a)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.60.

Mplx Stock Down 0.1%

MPLX stock opened at $56.98 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71. The company’s 50 day moving average is $56.27 and its 200 day moving average is $56.28. The stock has a market cap of $57.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.49 and a beta of 0.47. Mplx Lp has a 1-year low of $47.80 and a 1-year high of $59.98.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.15). Mplx had a net margin of 36.38% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The company had revenue of $2.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.10 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Mplx Lp will post 4.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 8th were given a dividend of $1.0765 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 8th. This represents a $4.31 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.6%. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 93.29%.

About Mplx

MPLX LP (NYSE: MPLX) is a midstream master limited partnership that owns, operates and develops energy infrastructure primarily across the United States. The company provides a range of midstream services including the gathering, transportation, storage and distribution of crude oil, refined petroleum products, natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs). MPLX also operates processing and fractionation facilities and supplies logistics services that connect producers, refiners and end-use markets.

The partnership’s asset base includes pipelines, storage terminals, rail and marine facilities, natural gas processing plants and NGL fractionators.