SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC Decreases Stake in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 11.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,257 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 546 shares during the period. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $858,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,153,636 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $764,526,000 after buying an additional 137,341 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 4,102,057 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $608,581,000 after buying an additional 96,753 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $500,685,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,341,364 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $347,365,000 after buying an additional 178,502 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service increased its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 969,120 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $143,779,000 after buying an additional 26,941 shares during the period. 76.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MPC. Raymond James reduced their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $211.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Mizuho dropped their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $203.00 to $201.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $191.00 to $186.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $191.31.

Marathon Petroleum Trading Up 0.5 %

Marathon Petroleum stock opened at $174.99 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $61.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a 12 month low of $112.82 and a 12 month high of $221.11. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $177.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $176.31.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported $2.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.53 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $32.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $32.07 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 25.87% and a net margin of 5.32%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $6.09 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 17.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

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

Marathon Petroleum declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan 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 plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors 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.