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

Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) was the target of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock traders acquired 10,371 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 353% compared to the average volume of 2,287 call options.

Institutional Trading of Mplx

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of MPLX. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Mplx in the 1st quarter valued at $41,000. CWM LLC raised its position in Mplx by 73.3% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,066 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 451 shares during the last quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mplx by 450.0% during the second quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC now owns 1,100 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mplx during the second quarter worth about $67,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mplx in the second quarter valued at approximately $88,000. 24.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MPLX has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Mplx from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Bank of America began coverage on Mplx in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $43.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Mplx from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Mplx from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Mplx from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.00.

Mplx Price Performance

Shares of MPLX opened at $46.98 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $47.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.45, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $44.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.49. Mplx has a 1-year low of $35.07 and a 1-year high of $47.62.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.04). Mplx had a net margin of 35.95% and a return on equity of 32.68%. The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.89 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Mplx will post 4.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th will be paid a $0.9565 dividend. This is a boost from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.14%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. Mplx’s payout ratio is 82.52%.

About Mplx

MPLX LP owns and operates midstream energy infrastructure and logistics assets primarily in the United States. It operates in two segments, Logistics and Storage, and Gathering and Processing. The company is involved in the gathering, processing, and transportation of natural gas; gathering, transportation, fractionation, storage, and marketing of natural gas liquids; gathering, storage, transportation, and distribution of crude oil and refined products, as well as other hydrocarbon-based products and renewables; and sale of residue gas and condensate.