BKM Wealth Management LLC Grows Position in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

BKM Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 25.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,475 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,306 shares during the period. BKM Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $903,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Marathon Petroleum by 342.1% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 22.3% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,552,655 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $495,595,000 after buying an additional 647,045 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 45.4% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,329,422 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $217,560,000 after buying an additional 415,368 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in 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. Finally, National Pension Service boosted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 977,250 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $159,204,000 after buying an additional 29,008 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Marathon Petroleum

In related news, Director Jeffrey C. Campbell purchased 6,000 shares of Marathon Petroleum 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 6,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $911,124.90. This trade represents a 6,666.67 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MPC shares. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $174.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $170.00 price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Tudor Pickering raised Marathon Petroleum from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $168.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $190.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $181.27.

Marathon Petroleum Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MPC opened at $156.11 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $146.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $156.79. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a twelve month low of $130.54 and a twelve month high of $221.11. The company has a market cap of $50.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.72, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The oil and gas company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.06 by $0.71. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 2.45%. The firm had revenue of $33.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.98 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 8.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, November 5th that allows the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the oil and gas company to buy up to 10% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.33%. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is 36.66%.

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.