B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Lowers Position in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. decreased its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 4.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,600 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 588 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $1,869,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MPC. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,153,636 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $764,526,000 after purchasing an additional 137,341 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,526,814 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $685,088,000 after acquiring an additional 43,989 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in Marathon Petroleum by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 4,102,057 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $608,581,000 after acquiring an additional 96,753 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Marathon Petroleum during the fourth quarter worth about $500,685,000. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,341,364 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $347,365,000 after purchasing an additional 178,502 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on MPC shares. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $190.00 to $168.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 14th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $200.00 to $203.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $227.00 to $223.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Tudor Pickering raised shares of Marathon Petroleum to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $192.23.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Performance

Shares of MPC stock opened at $172.51 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $183.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $174.37. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a 52 week low of $108.88 and a 52 week high of $221.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $60.78 billion, a PE ratio of 8.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.45.

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

Marathon Petroleum announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, April 30th that permits the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the oil and gas company to repurchase up to 7.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th were given a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 15th. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.48%.

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.