Wesbanco Bank Inc. Boosts Stake in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Wesbanco Bank Inc. raised its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 21,223 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $2,961,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Marathon Petroleum by 342.1% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,593,729 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $911,274,000 after purchasing an additional 4,328,470 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 19,153.8% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. ING Groep NV purchased a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the 3rd quarter valued at about $114,107,000. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in Marathon Petroleum by 212.9% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 846,756 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $137,945,000 after acquiring an additional 576,119 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 1,204.8% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 543,062 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $75,757,000 after acquiring an additional 501,441 shares during the last quarter. 76.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MPC shares. Raymond James raised their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $190.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $170.00 price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $174.00 target price for the company. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $174.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $191.00 to $170.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $181.20.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Up 4.6 %

Shares of Marathon Petroleum stock opened at $154.37 on Friday. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a 1 year low of $130.54 and a 1 year high of $221.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market cap of $49.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.23, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.42. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $147.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $158.72.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The oil and gas company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) 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 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 company posted $8.14 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 8.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th were paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. This is a boost from Marathon Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 20th. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is 28.84%.

Marathon Petroleum declared that its board has initiated a stock 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 repurchase up to 10% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Marathon Petroleum

In other news, Director Jeffrey C. Campbell purchased 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $149.61 per share, for a total transaction of $897,660.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 6,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $911,124.90. This represents a 6,666.67 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.21% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.