WESPAC Advisors LLC Purchases 429 Shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

WESPAC Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 10.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,607 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 429 shares during the period. WESPAC Advisors LLC’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $751,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 4,286,892 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $743,690,000 after purchasing an additional 107,915 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,080,958 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $620,815,000 after buying an additional 31,100 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 8.8% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,905,610 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $473,353,000 after buying an additional 235,795 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its position in Marathon Petroleum by 0.3% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,773,050 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $558,390,000 after acquiring an additional 8,476 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 19,153.8% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,311,182 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $213,605,000 after acquiring an additional 1,304,372 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $191.00 to $170.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $172.00 to $167.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $174.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $200.00 to $190.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Marathon Petroleum currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $185.07.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE MPC opened at $158.48 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market cap of $50.93 billion, a PE ratio of 12.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.38. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $158.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $167.55. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a 12-month low of $140.98 and a 12-month high of $221.11.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The oil and gas company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.90. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 3.15% and a return on equity of 16.19%. The company had revenue of $35.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.34 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $8.14 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 9.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This is an increase from Marathon Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.30%. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is currently 28.84%.

Marathon Petroleum announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, November 5th that allows the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the oil and gas company to reacquire up to 10% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is 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.