Wedmont Private Capital Boosts Stake in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Wedmont Private Capital raised its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 8.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,245 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 486 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $1,033,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,153,636 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $764,526,000 after buying an additional 137,341 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 1.9% in the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 4,178,977 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $842,064,000 after buying an additional 76,920 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the fourth quarter worth about $500,685,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 1.0% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,080,958 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $620,815,000 after buying an additional 31,100 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners boosted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 0.3% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,773,050 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $558,390,000 after buying an additional 8,476 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on MPC. Raymond James reduced their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Tudor Pickering raised Marathon Petroleum to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Marathon Petroleum in a report on Thursday, July 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $200.00 price target for the company. Scotiabank reduced their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $207.00 to $191.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $195.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 1st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $198.38.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Down 0.6 %

NYSE MPC traded down $1.09 on Tuesday, hitting $175.29. 1,334,557 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,638,762. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $170.96 and a 200 day moving average of $179.61. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a twelve month low of $139.32 and a twelve month high of $221.11. The company has a market capitalization of $61.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.40. 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 (NYSE:MPC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The oil and gas company reported $4.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.09 by $1.03. The business had revenue of $38.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.66 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 25.87% and a net margin of 5.32%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.32 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 13.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be issued a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 21st. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.48%.

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.