Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) Shares Bought by RFG Advisory LLC

RFG Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 20.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,093 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,752 shares during the period. RFG Advisory LLC’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $3,082,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 342.1% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,593,729 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $911,274,000 after buying an additional 4,328,470 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 8.8% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,905,610 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $473,353,000 after buying an additional 235,795 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 45.4% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,329,422 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $217,560,000 after buying an additional 415,368 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 19,153.8% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,311,182 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $213,605,000 after buying an additional 1,304,372 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service grew its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 3.1% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 977,250 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $159,204,000 after buying an additional 29,008 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MPC shares. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $174.00 target price for the company. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $191.00 to $170.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and issued a $170.00 target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $186.00 to $182.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $168.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $181.20.

Insider Activity at Marathon Petroleum

In other Marathon Petroleum news, Director Jeffrey C. Campbell bought 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $149.61 per share, with a total value of $897,660.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 6,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $911,124.90. This trade represents a 6,666.67 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Marathon Petroleum Trading Down 1.9 %

NYSE MPC opened at $151.43 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $147.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $158.69. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a 52 week low of $130.54 and a 52 week high of $221.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market cap of $48.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.00, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.42.

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

Marathon Petroleum Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th were issued a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 20th. This is a boost from Marathon Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.40%. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.84%.

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