Ashton Thomas Securities LLC Buys New Shares in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 532 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $87,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 19,153.8% in 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 buying an additional 1,304,372 shares during the period. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Marathon Petroleum in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $219,537,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Marathon Petroleum by 980.3% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 684,718 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $118,785,000 after acquiring an additional 621,336 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 64.1% during the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 619,049 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $107,393,000 after purchasing an additional 241,746 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 8.5% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,669,815 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $463,160,000 after purchasing an additional 209,270 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MPC. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $168.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Tudor Pickering lowered Marathon Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. downgraded Marathon Petroleum from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $172.00 to $171.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $191.00 to $170.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Marathon Petroleum currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $185.07.

Marathon Petroleum Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE MPC opened at $155.19 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.88 billion, a PE ratio of 12.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.38. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a one year low of $140.98 and a one year high of $221.11. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $160.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $169.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.23.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The oil and gas company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.90. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 16.19% and a net margin of 3.15%. The company had revenue of $35.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.34 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $8.14 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 9.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.35%. This is a boost from Marathon Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.84%.

Marathon Petroleum announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, November 5th 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 10% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership 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.