Duality Advisers LP Cuts Stake in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Duality Advisers LP lessened its stake in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 19.3% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 23,765 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 5,693 shares during the quarter. Duality Advisers LP’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $4,789,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. NBC Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 0.9% in the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 6,333 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,276,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Guidance Capital Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 1.1% in the first quarter. Guidance Capital Inc. now owns 5,483 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,135,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC raised its position in Marathon Petroleum by 27.3% during the 1st quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 275 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. First Financial Corp IN grew its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. First Financial Corp IN now owns 2,429 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $489,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marino Stram & Associates LLC boosted its position in Marathon Petroleum by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 11,424 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,695,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. 76.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MPC shares. Raymond James decreased their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Tudor Pickering raised shares of Marathon Petroleum to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $223.00 to $196.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $185.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Marathon Petroleum currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $189.23.

Marathon Petroleum Price Performance

NYSE MPC traded up $0.53 on Friday, hitting $164.82. The company had a trading volume of 1,204,832 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,684,932. 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 company has a market capitalization of $58.07 billion, a PE ratio of 8.19, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.40. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a 12-month low of $117.28 and a 12-month high of $221.11. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $174.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $176.75.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last released 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. 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $6.09 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 16.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase 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 repurchase up to 7.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th were given a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 15th. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is 16.48%.

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.