Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co Raises Stock Position in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co boosted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,102 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $609,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in Marathon Petroleum during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,492,000. United Services Automobile Association lifted its position in Marathon Petroleum by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 11,625 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,725,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Marathon Petroleum by 11,526.7% during the fourth quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,744 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $259,000 after purchasing an additional 1,729 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in Marathon Petroleum by 35.0% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 870,461 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $129,345,000 after purchasing an additional 225,837 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV lifted its position in Marathon Petroleum by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 2,636 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $391,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MPC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $185.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $168.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $200.00 to $203.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 13th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $221.00 to $195.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Marathon Petroleum has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $190.77.

Insider Transactions at Marathon Petroleum

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

Marathon Petroleum Trading Down 2.0 %

Marathon Petroleum stock traded down $3.60 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $176.07. 2,454,719 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,733,767. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $195.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $170.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $62.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.55. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a 52-week low of $104.32 and a 52-week high of $221.11.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported $2.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.53 by $0.25. The business 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 company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $6.09 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 19.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.48%.

Marathon Petroleum declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, April 30th that permits the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the oil and gas company to buy up to 7.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.