Santori & Peters Inc. Makes New $208,000 Investment in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Santori & Peters Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,031 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $208,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Waverly Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the 3rd quarter valued at $261,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 47.9% in the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 37,573 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $5,685,000 after acquiring an additional 12,163 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 117,271 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $17,748,000 after acquiring an additional 2,703 shares during the period. Shelton Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 148.1% in the 3rd quarter. Shelton Capital Management now owns 16,710 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,529,000 after acquiring an additional 9,975 shares during the period. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 18,609 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,816,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $191.00 to $186.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $227.00 to $223.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Tudor Pickering upgraded shares of Marathon Petroleum to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $190.00 to $168.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Marathon Petroleum presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $191.31.

Marathon Petroleum Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MPC traded up $0.85 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $174.99. 1,344,583 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,708,869. The stock has a market cap of $61.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.74, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a twelve month low of $112.82 and a twelve month high of $221.11. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $177.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $176.31.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported $2.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.53 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $32.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $32.07 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 25.87% and a net margin of 5.32%. The business’s revenue was down 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $6.09 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 17.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, April 30th that permits the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the oil and gas company to buy up to 7.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th were paid a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 15th. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is 16.48%.

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.