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

Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 7,088 call options on the company. This is an increase of 62% compared to the average volume of 4,385 call options.

Mplx Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:MPLX opened at $47.36 on Friday. Mplx has a 52 week low of $39.56 and a 52 week high of $54.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.99. The company has a market cap of $48.42 billion, a PE ratio of 11.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $52.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $49.25.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.06 billion during 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 for the quarter was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.10 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Mplx will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.9565 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.08%. Mplx’s dividend payout ratio is 90.74%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on MPLX shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Mplx from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, March 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Raymond James increased their target price 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target 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. One 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Shawn M. Lyon bought 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $52.75 per share, with a total value of $211,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the vice president now directly owns 25,299 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,334,522.25. This trade represents a 18.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Institutional Trading of Mplx

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MPLX. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Mplx in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR acquired a new position in shares of Mplx in the fourth quarter worth $56,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Mplx by 139.6% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,785 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $85,000 after acquiring an additional 1,040 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RE Dickinson Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Mplx by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. RE Dickinson Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,017 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $96,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. 24.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.