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

Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock investors purchased 10,371 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 353% compared to the typical daily volume of 2,287 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on MPLX shares. StockNews.com lowered Mplx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group upped their price objective on Mplx from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Mplx from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays increased their target price on Mplx from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Mplx in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $43.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.00.

Mplx Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MPLX opened at $45.98 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $46.93 billion, a PE ratio of 10.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.37. 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 has a 52 week low of $35.07 and a 52 week high of $47.62. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $44.16 and its 200-day moving average is $42.56.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.09 billion. Mplx had a net margin of 36.77% and a return on equity of 32.70%. Mplx’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.89 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Mplx will post 4.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th will be issued a $0.9565 dividend. This is a positive change from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.32%. Mplx’s payout ratio is presently 80.19%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mplx

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MPLX. ING Groep NV lifted its holdings in Mplx by 69.8% in the third quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 6,628,400 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $294,699,000 after buying an additional 2,725,000 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its stake in Mplx by 4,274.2% in the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 811,371 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $346,000 after purchasing an additional 792,822 shares in the last quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. increased its stake in Mplx by 2.4% in the second quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 14,825,905 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $631,435,000 after purchasing an additional 353,324 shares in the last quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC increased its stake in Mplx by 5.1% in the first quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 5,224,918 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $217,148,000 after purchasing an additional 255,211 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT increased its stake in Mplx by 17.0% in the third quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT now owns 1,498,796 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $66,636,000 after purchasing an additional 217,674 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.25% of the company’s stock.

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.