Planning Capital Management Corp Acquires New Stake in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Planning Capital Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 407 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $66,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. WR Wealth Planners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 15.2% in the 2nd quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 431 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Legacy Advisors LLC grew its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 1,238 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $215,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC grew its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC now owns 1,714 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $297,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. SouthState Corp grew its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 4,122 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $715,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,165 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,268,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. 76.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Marathon Petroleum Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of Marathon Petroleum stock opened at $158.14 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market cap of $50.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.38. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $159.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $168.80. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a fifty-two week low of $140.98 and a fifty-two week high of $221.11.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last posted 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. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 16.19% and a net margin of 3.15%. The firm had revenue of $35.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $8.14 earnings per share. Marathon Petroleum’s quarterly revenue was down 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 9.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. This is a positive change from Marathon Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.30%. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.15%.

Marathon Petroleum announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, November 5th that permits the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the oil and gas company to repurchase up to 10% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MPC. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $172.00 to $167.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Marathon Petroleum in a report on Thursday, July 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $200.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $172.00 to $171.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $168.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $200.00 to $190.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Marathon Petroleum currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $185.07.

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.