Nixon Peabody Trust Co. Purchases 68 Shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Nixon Peabody Trust Co. grew its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 3.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,068 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 68 shares during the quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co.’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $288,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MPC. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 342.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,593,729 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $911,274,000 after purchasing an additional 4,328,470 shares during the last quarter. ING Groep NV purchased a new position in Marathon Petroleum in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $114,107,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 22.3% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,552,655 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $495,595,000 after buying an additional 647,045 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 212.9% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 846,756 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $137,945,000 after buying an additional 576,119 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 1,204.8% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 543,062 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $75,757,000 after buying an additional 501,441 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Marathon Petroleum

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

Marathon Petroleum Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of MPC stock opened at $150.07 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $48.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.11, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.41. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a one year low of $130.54 and a one year high of $221.11. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $148.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $155.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The oil and gas company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.06 by $0.71. The firm had revenue of $33.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.94 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 2.45% and a return on equity of 12.07%. The company’s revenue was down 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.98 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 8.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, November 5th that permits the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the oil and gas company to purchase up to 10% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.43%. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on MPC shares. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $170.00 price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $174.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $190.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $168.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $182.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Marathon Petroleum currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $181.27.

About Marathon Petroleum

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.