Pittenger & Anderson Inc. Purchases New Position in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Pittenger & Anderson Inc. acquired a new position in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 240 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Marino Stram & Associates LLC increased its position in shares of 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 worth $1,695,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 20,408 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,028,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,559 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $231,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,465 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $676,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. Finally, Visionary Wealth Advisors increased its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Visionary Wealth Advisors now owns 1,965 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $297,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MPC traded down $1.49 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $198.02. 696,525 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,741,376. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a 1 year low of $104.32 and a 1 year high of $221.11. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $191.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $166.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market cap of $71.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.48, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.52.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The oil and gas company reported $3.98 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $1.77. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 30.58% and a net margin of 6.44%. The business had revenue of $36.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $6.65 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 20.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.02%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kim K.W. Rucker sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.35, for a total transaction of $170,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,994,026.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MPC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $168.00 to $221.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased 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. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $185.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $193.77.

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.