Farther Finance Advisors LLC Acquires 1,038 Shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 42.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,459 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,038 shares during the quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $564,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Americana Partners LLC bought a new stake in Marathon Petroleum during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $411,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Reston Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,450 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $236,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton boosted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 3,642 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $593,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the period. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC boosted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 4,285 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $698,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Finally, SteelPeak Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 36.8% in the 3rd quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 25,736 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,193,000 after acquiring an additional 6,925 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Tudor Pickering downgraded Marathon Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $172.00 to $167.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $196.00 to $183.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $191.00 to $170.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $174.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $185.67.

Marathon Petroleum Trading Up 3.8 %

MPC stock opened at $155.20 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $161.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $170.32. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a fifty-two week low of $140.98 and a fifty-two week high of $221.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.31 and a quick ratio of 0.90.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The oil and gas company reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.90. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 24.05% and a net margin of 4.79%. The firm had revenue of $35.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.34 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $8.14 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 8.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. This is a boost from Marathon Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.34%.

Marathon Petroleum announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, November 5th that permits the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the oil and gas company to purchase up to 10% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.