Cullen Investment Group LTD. Purchases 4,284 Shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Cullen Investment Group LTD. grew its position in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 8.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 55,084 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,284 shares during the quarter. Marathon Petroleum makes up about 1.3% of Cullen Investment Group LTD.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Cullen Investment Group LTD.’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $8,974,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MPC. Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 2.6% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 4,286,892 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $743,690,000 after purchasing an additional 107,915 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 1.0% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,080,958 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $620,815,000 after acquiring an additional 31,100 shares during the period. Boston Partners raised its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 0.3% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,773,050 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $558,390,000 after acquiring an additional 8,476 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 8.5% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,669,815 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $463,160,000 after acquiring an additional 209,270 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 7.6% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,663,835 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $335,241,000 after acquiring an additional 117,790 shares during the period. 76.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on MPC. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $223.00 to $196.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 12th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Marathon Petroleum from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $222.00 to $231.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $207.00 to $191.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Marathon Petroleum presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $196.14.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:MPC traded down $2.86 during trading on Friday, reaching $171.98. The stock had a trading volume of 2,241,691 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,697,056. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a one year low of $139.93 and a one year high of $221.11. The company has a market capitalization of $60.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.59, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $169.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $178.52.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The oil and gas company reported $4.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.09 by $1.03. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 4.79% and a return on equity of 24.05%. The business had revenue of $38.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.66 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $5.32 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 10.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were issued a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend 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.