Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) Position Raised by KKM Financial LLC

KKM Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 13,249 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 890 shares during the quarter. KKM Financial LLC’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $2,158,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in Marathon Petroleum by 2.6% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 4,286,892 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $743,690,000 after buying an additional 107,915 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Marathon Petroleum by 1.0% during the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 31,100 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Marathon Petroleum by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,905,610 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $473,353,000 after purchasing an additional 235,795 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,773,050 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $558,390,000 after acquiring an additional 8,476 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 19,153.8% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,311,182 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $213,605,000 after acquiring an additional 1,304,372 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MPC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Tudor Pickering cut shares of Marathon Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $172.00 to $171.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $168.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 20th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $200.00 to $190.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $196.00 to $183.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Marathon Petroleum presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $185.07.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Performance

NYSE MPC opened at $158.48 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market cap of $50.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.56, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.38. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a twelve month low of $140.98 and a twelve month high of $221.11. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $158.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $167.64.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The oil and gas company reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.90. The firm had revenue of $35.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.34 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 3.15% and a return on equity of 16.19%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $8.14 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 9.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, November 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the oil and gas company to repurchase up to 10% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Marathon Petroleum Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.30%. This is a positive change from Marathon Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.84%.

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.