Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) Shares Purchased by Tortoise Investment Management LLC

Tortoise Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 12.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 847 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the period. Tortoise Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $126,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew 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 valued at $174,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP bought a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the fourth quarter worth about $33,604,000. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 3.2% during the fourth 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. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the fourth quarter worth about $659,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 17.6% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 692,063 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $102,675,000 after purchasing an additional 103,471 shares during the last quarter. 76.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MPC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Raymond James reduced their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $190.00 to $168.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $221.00 to $195.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $192.23.

Marathon Petroleum Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MPC traded down $0.44 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $170.07. 2,933,965 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,418,018. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a fifty-two week low of $108.88 and a fifty-two week high of $221.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market cap of $59.92 billion, a PE ratio of 8.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.45. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $185.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $173.71.

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 (EPS) 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 analyst estimates of $32.07 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 5.32% and a return on equity of 25.87%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $6.09 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 19.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th were paid a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 15th. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is 16.48%.

Marathon Petroleum declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, April 30th that permits the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the oil and gas company to reacquire up to 7.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.