Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Mplx (NYSE:MPLX)

Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 7,088 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 62% compared to the typical daily volume of 4,385 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Trading of Mplx

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MPLX. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Mplx during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Mplx by 56.3% during the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,135 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares during the period. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new stake in Mplx during the 4th quarter worth about $56,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in Mplx by 139.6% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,785 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 1,040 shares during the period. Finally, RE Dickinson Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Mplx by 11.5% during the 4th quarter. RE Dickinson Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,017 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $96,000 after buying an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Mplx Stock Performance

MPLX stock traded down $0.65 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $46.03. The company had a trading volume of 632,433 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,805,635. Mplx has a 12 month low of $39.56 and a 12 month high of $54.87. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $52.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $49.22. The firm has a market cap of $47.07 billion, a PE ratio of 10.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.99.

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

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.9565 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.31%. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.74%.

About Mplx

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.