1,387 Shares in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) Bought by GDS Wealth Management

GDS Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 1,387 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MPC. Aspire Private Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 4.4% during the third quarter. Aspire Private Capital LLC now owns 3,456 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $523,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,174 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $174,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 10,899 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,617,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC now owns 579,841 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $87,753,000 after buying an additional 48,540 shares during the period. Finally, Intrust Bank NA raised its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Intrust Bank NA now owns 5,786 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $858,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MPC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Mizuho lowered their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $202.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Scotiabank raised their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $221.00 to $195.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $214.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Marathon Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $191.62.

Marathon Petroleum Trading Down 1.6 %

MPC stock traded down $2.98 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $179.95. The company had a trading volume of 301,596 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,708,767. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a 52 week low of $104.32 and a 52 week high of $221.11. The stock has a market cap of $63.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.14, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.55. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $194.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $168.81.

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

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.83%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is 16.48%.

Marathon Petroleum declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, April 30th that allows the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the oil and gas company to purchase up to 7.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Marathon Petroleum

In other Marathon Petroleum news, Director Kim K.W. Rucker sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.35, for a total transaction of $170,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 23,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,994,026.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.21% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Marathon Petroleum 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.