Mplx Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:MPLX)

Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX) saw some unusual options trading on Monday. Stock investors purchased 6,789 call options on the company. This is an increase of 237% compared to the typical volume of 2,017 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MPLX shares. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Mplx from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 21st. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Mplx from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Mplx from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Mplx from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Mplx from $60.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mplx currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $59.00.

Institutional Trading of Mplx

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in Mplx during the 1st quarter valued at about $444,000. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Mplx by 24.3% during the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 8,284 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $443,000 after buying an additional 1,621 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Mplx by 4.5% during the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 331,772 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $17,756,000 after buying an additional 14,224 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in Mplx by 33.6% in the first quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 7,113 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $381,000 after buying an additional 1,787 shares during the period. Finally, Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its holdings in Mplx by 2.6% in the first quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 19,670 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,053,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mplx Price Performance

MPLX opened at $53.90 on Wednesday. Mplx has a one year low of $44.60 and a one year high of $54.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.31 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $51.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $54.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.42 and a beta of 0.56.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.45. Mplx had a net margin of 37.61% and a return on equity of 34.14%. The firm had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.16 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Mplx will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mplx Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 7th were paid a dividend of $1.0765 per share. This represents a $4.31 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.0%. This is a boost from Mplx’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.96. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 7th. Mplx’s payout ratio is currently 91.31%.

About Mplx

MPLX LP engages in the operation of midstream energy infrastructure and logistics assets, and distribution fuels services. It operates through the Crude Oil and Products Logistics and Natural Gas and NGL Services segments. The Crude Oil and Products Logistics segment transports, stores, distributes, and markets crude oil, asphalt, refined petroleum products, and water.