Apollon Wealth Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Apollon Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 50.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,120 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,038 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $1,798,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MPC. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA bought a new position in Marathon Petroleum in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Marathon Petroleum in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Bare Financial Services Inc purchased a new stake in Marathon Petroleum in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. bought a new stake in Marathon Petroleum during the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MPC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $221.00 to $195.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Raymond James increased their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $214.00 to $227.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $172.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Marathon Petroleum currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $191.62.

Marathon Petroleum Price Performance

Marathon Petroleum stock traded up $0.54 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $181.46. The company had a trading volume of 386,398 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,736,301. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $194.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $168.73. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a 12-month low of $104.32 and a 12-month high of $221.11. The company has a market capitalization of $63.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported $2.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.53 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $32.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $32.07 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 5.32% and a return on equity of 25.87%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $6.09 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 19.96 EPS for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a $0.825 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.82%. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is 16.48%.

Marathon Petroleum announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, April 30th that permits the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the oil and gas company to reacquire up to 7.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kim K.W. Rucker sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.35, for a total transaction of $170,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,446 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,994,026.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

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.