Applied Finance Capital Management LLC Acquires 110 Shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Applied Finance Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,443 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the period. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $1,736,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in Marathon Petroleum in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 762.9% during the 4th quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 302 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Marathon Petroleum during the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Marathon Petroleum

In other news, Director Evan Bayh bought 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $133.70 per share, for a total transaction of $133,700.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 69,305 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,266,078.50. This trade represents a 1.46 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ricky D. Hessling purchased 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $134.72 per share, for a total transaction of $269,440.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,638,464.64. This trade represents a 19.68 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Performance

Shares of MPC stock opened at $121.37 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The business has a fifty day moving average of $146.78 and a 200 day moving average of $150.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.04. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a 1 year low of $115.10 and a 1 year high of $219.74.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The oil and gas company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06 by $0.71. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 2.45%. The firm had revenue of $33.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.98 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 8.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th were issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.00%. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MPC. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $174.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $160.00 to $156.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Barclays upped their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $159.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $170.00 target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $193.00 price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a report on Thursday, March 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $180.29.

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.