Richardson Financial Services Inc. Acquires Shares of 1,207 Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 1,207 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $179,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MPC. Fortis Group Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Fortis Group Advisors LLC now owns 314 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Vima LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Creekmur Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the fourth quarter worth about $161,000. Transcendent Capital Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the fourth quarter worth about $76,000. Finally, Tortoise Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 847 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $126,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MPC has been the subject of several research reports. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $185.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $200.00 to $203.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Scotiabank upped 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 note on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com cut shares of Marathon Petroleum from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Tudor Pickering upgraded shares of Marathon Petroleum to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $192.23.

Marathon Petroleum Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of MPC stock traded down $0.44 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $170.07. The company had a trading volume of 2,933,965 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,418,018. The company’s fifty day moving average is $185.37 and its 200 day moving average is $174.06. 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 fifty-two week low of $108.88 and a fifty-two week high of $221.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.92 billion, a PE ratio of 8.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.45.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported $2.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.53 by $0.25. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 5.32% and a return on equity of 25.87%. The firm had revenue of $32.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $32.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $6.09 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 19.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, April 30th that allows the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the oil and gas company to purchase up to 7.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th were paid a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 15th. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is currently 16.48%.

About Marathon Petroleum

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.