Hengehold Capital Management LLC Buys Shares of 1,824 Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Hengehold Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 1,824 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $368,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MPC. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the fourth quarter worth about $500,685,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Marathon Petroleum by 256.3% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 884,573 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $131,235,000 after purchasing an additional 636,281 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its position in Marathon Petroleum by 309.9% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 643,590 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $95,483,000 after purchasing an additional 486,573 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Marathon Petroleum by 248.1% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 608,888 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $90,335,000 after purchasing an additional 433,977 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canoe Financial LP acquired a new position in Marathon Petroleum during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,604,000. 76.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MPC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays reduced their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $221.00 to $195.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 6th. StockNews.com lowered Marathon Petroleum from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Tudor Pickering upgraded Marathon Petroleum to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $203.00 to $201.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, Scotiabank upped 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. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Marathon Petroleum presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $192.08.

Marathon Petroleum Price Performance

Marathon Petroleum stock traded down $0.58 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $172.33. 824,667 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,706,265. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $179.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $175.35. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a 12 month low of $112.82 and a 12 month high of $221.11. 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 has a market cap of $60.72 billion, a PE ratio of 8.64, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.45.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported $2.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.53 by $0.25. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 25.87% and a net margin of 5.32%. The firm had revenue of $32.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $32.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $6.09 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 17.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th were issued a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 15th. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.48%.

Marathon Petroleum announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, April 30th that allows the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the oil and gas company to buy up to 7.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board 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.