MJP Associates Inc. ADV Invests $256,000 in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

MJP Associates Inc. ADV bought a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 1,270 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $256,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,153,636 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $764,526,000 after buying an additional 137,341 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 4,102,057 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $608,581,000 after purchasing an additional 96,753 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $500,685,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,341,364 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $347,365,000 after purchasing an additional 178,502 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,624,929 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $245,917,000 after purchasing an additional 82,576 shares during the period. 76.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Marathon Petroleum Price Performance

NYSE:MPC traded down $0.99 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $172.67. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,346,460 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,355,093. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $181.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $174.68. The company has a market capitalization of $60.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.62, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 0.99. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a twelve month low of $108.88 and a twelve month high of $221.11.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported $2.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.53 by $0.25. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 25.87% and a net margin of 5.32%. The business had revenue of $32.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $32.07 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $6.09 earnings per share. Marathon Petroleum’s revenue was down 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 18.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th were paid a dividend of $0.825 per share. 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 payout ratio is 16.48%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James decreased their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. StockNews.com downgraded Marathon Petroleum from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Tudor Pickering raised Marathon Petroleum to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $227.00 to $223.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Marathon Petroleum has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $192.08.

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.