Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) Shares Sold by State of Michigan Retirement System

State of Michigan Retirement System reduced its position in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 3.0% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 100,810 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 3,100 shares during the quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $20,313,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. NBC Securities Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 6,333 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,276,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Guidance Capital Inc. increased its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 1.1% in the first quarter. Guidance Capital Inc. now owns 5,483 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,135,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 27.3% during the 1st quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 275 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. First Financial Corp IN boosted its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. First Financial Corp IN now owns 2,429 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $489,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marino Stram & Associates LLC increased its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 11,424 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,695,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Tudor Pickering upgraded Marathon Petroleum to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $191.00 to $186.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler dropped 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. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $227.00 to $223.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 6th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $203.00 to $201.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Marathon Petroleum currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $191.31.

Marathon Petroleum Price Performance

MPC stock opened at $174.22 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $61.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a 52-week low of $112.82 and a 52-week high of $221.11. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $178.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $176.13.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported $2.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.53 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $32.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $32.07 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 25.87% and a net margin of 5.32%. The firm’s revenue was down 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $6.09 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 17.85 EPS for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th were issued a $0.825 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.89%. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is currently 16.48%.

Marathon Petroleum declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, April 30th that allows the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the oil and gas company to reacquire up to 7.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.