Traders Purchase High Volume of Mplx Call Options (NYSE:MPLX)

Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Traders purchased 7,088 call options on the company. This is an increase of 62% compared to the average daily volume of 4,385 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MPLX shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Barclays upped their target price on Mplx from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Raymond James raised their price target on Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mplx

In other Mplx news, VP Shawn M. Lyon purchased 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $52.75 per share, with a total value of $211,000.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 25,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,334,522.25. This represents a 18.78 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Institutional Trading of Mplx

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Mplx by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 7,409 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $329,000 after buying an additional 605 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its stake in shares of Mplx by 47.8% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 14,976 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $666,000 after purchasing an additional 4,844 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its holdings in Mplx by 387.5% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 23,543 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,047,000 after purchasing an additional 18,714 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp purchased a new position in Mplx during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,023,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Mplx by 5.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,488 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $689,000 after buying an additional 785 shares during the period. 24.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Mplx Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MPLX opened at $48.28 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $52.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $49.23. Mplx has a twelve month low of $39.56 and a twelve month high of $54.87. The company has a market capitalization of $49.36 billion, a PE ratio of 11.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.11.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 36.18%. The company’s revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.10 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Mplx will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.9565 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.93%. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.74%.

Mplx Company Profile

MPLX LP engages in the operation of midstream energy infrastructure and logistics assets, and distribution fuels services. It operates through the Logistics and Storage (L&S) and Gathering and Processing (G&P) segments. The Logistics and Storage segment transports, stores, distributes, and markets crude oil, asphalt, refined petroleum products, and water.