Romano Brothers AND Company Sells 710 Shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Romano Brothers AND Company decreased its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 6.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,418 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 710 shares during the period. Romano Brothers AND Company’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $1,453,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MPC. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 0.9% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,165 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,268,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Paragon Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Paragon Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,196 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,769,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 4,285 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $698,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the period. American Trust raised its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 5.3% during the third quarter. American Trust now owns 1,397 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $228,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Partners Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 3.3% during the third quarter. Financial Partners Group LLC now owns 2,220 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $362,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on MPC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $172.00 to $171.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $186.00 to $182.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $191.00 to $170.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $200.00 to $190.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $190.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Marathon Petroleum presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $181.20.

Marathon Petroleum Price Performance

NYSE:MPC opened at $152.83 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.12 billion, a PE ratio of 12.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.42. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a 1-year low of $130.54 and a 1-year high of $221.11. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $147.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $159.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The oil and gas company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.90. The company 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 company’s quarterly revenue was down 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $8.14 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th were paid a $0.91 dividend. This is a positive change from Marathon Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.38%. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.84%.

Marathon Petroleum declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, November 5th that permits the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the oil and gas company to buy up to 10% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Jeffrey C. Campbell acquired 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $149.61 per share, with a total value of $897,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $911,124.90. This trade represents a 6,666.67 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

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.