Venturi Wealth Management LLC Trims Stake in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 64.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,585 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 4,639 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $421,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the 1st quarter worth $176,000. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 1.2% during the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 23,599 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,755,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,150 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,642,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 15.7% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 443,868 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $89,439,000 after buying an additional 60,154 shares in the last quarter. Finally, D Orazio & Associates Inc. lifted its position in Marathon Petroleum by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc. now owns 1,894 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $382,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Performance

Shares of MPC opened at $155.19 on Wednesday. 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 two-hundred day simple moving average of $169.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.90. 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 (NYSE:MPC) last released its quarterly 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.34 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 16.19% and a net margin of 3.15%. The firm’s revenue was down 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $8.14 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 9.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.35%. This is a positive change from Marathon Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is presently 28.84%.

Marathon Petroleum announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, November 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the oil and gas company to purchase up to 10% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MPC has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup decreased their price target 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 lowered their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $174.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $168.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. cut Marathon Petroleum from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on Marathon Petroleum in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $174.00 price target on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Marathon Petroleum currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $185.07.

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.