EP Wealth Advisors LLC Has $2.71 Million Position in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 2.4% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 15,637 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 373 shares during the quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $2,713,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MPC. NBC Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 0.9% during the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 6,333 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,276,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Guidance Capital Inc. boosted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Guidance Capital Inc. now owns 5,483 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,135,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. WR Wealth Planners LLC grew its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 15.2% in the 2nd quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 431 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $75,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC increased its position in 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 worth $55,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the period. Finally, First Financial Corp IN lifted its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 2.5% during the first quarter. First Financial Corp IN now owns 2,429 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $489,000 after buying an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MPC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Marathon Petroleum from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. cut shares of Marathon Petroleum from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Tudor Pickering cut Marathon Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $198.00 to $193.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $195.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Marathon Petroleum currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $197.69.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Performance

NYSE:MPC opened at $165.84 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $58.43 billion, a PE ratio of 8.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.38. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a twelve month low of $139.32 and a twelve month high of $221.11. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $169.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $178.79.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The oil and gas company reported $4.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.09 by $1.03. The company had revenue of $38.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.66 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 4.79% and a return on equity of 24.05%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.32 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate 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 paid a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is 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.