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

Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock investors bought 14,474 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 458% compared to the typical daily volume of 2,594 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MPLX. Wolfe Research cut Mplx from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on Mplx in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $65.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Mplx from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Barclays cut their target price on Mplx from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Mplx from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $63.30.

Institutional Trading of Mplx

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MPLX. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in Mplx by 2.0% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 23,515 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,324,000 after purchasing an additional 451 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Mplx by 264.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 30,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,690,000 after purchasing an additional 21,769 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of Mplx by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 57,395 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,232,000 after purchasing an additional 3,856 shares during the last quarter. Integrity Alliance LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Mplx during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $538,000. Finally, GraniteShares Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Mplx by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. GraniteShares Advisors LLC now owns 52,839 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,976,000 after purchasing an additional 816 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

Mplx Stock Up 1.2%

Mplx stock opened at $57.30 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. Mplx has a 1-year low of $51.60 and a 1-year high of $60.95. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $57.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.29. The company has a market cap of $58.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 0.48.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The pipeline company reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.02. Mplx had a net margin of 32.91% and a return on equity of 30.30%. The firm had revenue of $3.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.52 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Mplx will post 4.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 6th were given a $1.2111 dividend. This is an increase from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.0765. This represents a $4.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 6th. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 113.08%.

Mplx Company Profile

MPLX LP is a diversified midstream energy company formed by Marathon Petroleum in 2012. It owns and operates infrastructure that gathers, processes, transports and stores energy products, connecting producers and refiners with customers and markets. The company’s assets include natural gas and natural gas liquids gathering and processing facilities, pipelines and fractionation plants, as well as crude oil and refined-product pipelines, storage terminals and inland marine transport operations. Its network serves energy-producing and refining regions across the United States.