PFG Investments LLC Purchases 486 Shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

PFG Investments LLC raised its position in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 10.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,048 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 486 shares during the period. PFG Investments LLC’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $704,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its position in Marathon Petroleum by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 3,317 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $463,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC now owns 6,452 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $900,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 13,071 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,823,000 after buying an additional 536 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional lifted its position in Marathon Petroleum by 31.3% during the 4th quarter. CX Institutional now owns 43,580 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $6,079,000 after buying an additional 10,398 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RFG Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 20.5% during the 4th quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 22,093 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,082,000 after acquiring an additional 3,752 shares during the last quarter. 76.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MPC has been the topic of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $200.00 to $190.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 4th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $170.00 price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $191.00 to $170.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $172.00 to $171.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $168.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Marathon Petroleum has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $181.20.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Jeffrey C. Campbell bought 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $149.61 per share, for a total transaction of $897,660.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 6,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $911,124.90. The trade was a 6,666.67 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Marathon Petroleum Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE MPC opened at $151.45 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $146.87 and its 200-day moving average is $158.34. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a one year low of $130.54 and a one year high of $221.11. The firm has a market cap of $48.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.42.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The oil and gas company reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.90. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 3.15% and a return on equity of 16.19%. The company had revenue of $35.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.34 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $8.14 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 8.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is 28.84%.

Marathon Petroleum announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, November 5th that allows the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the oil and gas company to reacquire up to 10% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Marathon Petroleum Company Profile

Marathon Petroleum Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated downstream energy company primarily in the United States. The company operates through Refining & Marketing, and Midstream segments. The Refining & Marketing segment refines crude oil and other feedstocks at its refineries in the Gulf Coast, Mid-Continent, and West Coast regions of the United States; and purchases refined products and ethanol for resale and distributes refined products, including renewable diesel, through transportation, storage, distribution, and marketing services.