West Family Investments Inc. Boosts Stake in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

West Family Investments Inc. raised its position in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 10.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,405 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 233 shares during the period. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $392,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MPC. Raymond James & Associates increased its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 2.6% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 4,286,892 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $743,690,000 after acquiring an additional 107,915 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 1.0% during the first 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 acquiring an additional 31,100 shares during the period. Boston Partners increased its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 0.3% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,773,050 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $558,390,000 after acquiring an additional 8,476 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased 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 acquiring an additional 209,270 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of 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 during the period. 76.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MPC has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $196.00 to $182.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $196.00 to $183.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $172.00 to $171.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup dropped their price objective 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $200.00 to $190.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Two investment 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $185.07.

Marathon Petroleum Price Performance

Shares of MPC opened at $158.79 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $51.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.38. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a twelve month low of $140.98 and a twelve month high of $221.11. 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 company has a 50 day moving average of $158.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $167.93.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The oil and gas company reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.90. The company had revenue of $35.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.34 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 3.15% and a return on equity of 16.19%. Marathon Petroleum’s revenue was down 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $8.14 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 9.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.29%. This is a boost from Marathon Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.15%.

Marathon Petroleum declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, November 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the oil and gas company to buy up to 10% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Marathon Petroleum Company 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.