Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. Sells 441 Shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 20.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,754 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 441 shares during the quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $285,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Camden National Bank bought a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the third quarter valued at approximately $289,000. Nwam LLC bought a new position in Marathon Petroleum in the third quarter valued at approximately $328,000. Meridian Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 9.1% in the third quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,111 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,647,000 after acquiring an additional 841 shares during the last quarter. Smithfield Trust Co boosted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 17.7% in the third quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 2,329 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $379,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 8.8% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,905,610 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $473,353,000 after acquiring an additional 235,795 shares during the last quarter. 76.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MPC. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $174.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. cut shares of Marathon Petroleum from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $172.00 to $167.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $200.00 to $190.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $168.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Marathon Petroleum presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $185.07.

Marathon Petroleum Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:MPC opened at $155.33 on Thursday. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a 12 month low of $140.98 and a 12 month high of $221.11. 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $158.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $167.03. The firm has a market cap of $49.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.31, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.38.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The oil and gas company reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.90. The business had revenue of $35.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.34 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 3.15% and a return on equity of 16.19%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $8.14 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 9.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.34%. This is an increase from Marathon Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.84%.

Marathon Petroleum declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, November 5th that allows the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the oil and gas company to reacquire up to 10% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.