State of Alaska Department of Revenue Trims Stake in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

State of Alaska Department of Revenue decreased its stake in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 16.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 88,343 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 17,670 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $17,801,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Waverly Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the third quarter valued at approximately $261,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 47.9% during the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 37,573 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $5,685,000 after buying an additional 12,163 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 117,271 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $17,748,000 after acquiring an additional 2,703 shares in the last quarter. Shelton Capital Management raised its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 148.1% in the 3rd quarter. Shelton Capital Management now owns 16,710 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,529,000 after acquiring an additional 9,975 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 18,609 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,816,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. 76.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Raymond James decreased 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 note on Thursday, May 30th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $190.00 to $168.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 14th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $185.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Marathon Petroleum from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. Six investment 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Marathon Petroleum currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $191.31.

Marathon Petroleum Price Performance

MPC traded up $0.85 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $174.99. 1,344,583 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,708,869. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $177.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $176.31. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a 12-month low of $112.82 and a 12-month high of $221.11. The company has a market cap of $61.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.74, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.43.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported $2.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.53 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $32.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $32.07 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 5.32% and a return on equity of 25.87%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $6.09 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 17.85 EPS for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan 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 buy up to 7.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th were issued a dividend of $0.825 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.89%. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio 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.