The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Sells 21,116 Shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company trimmed its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 267,577 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 21,116 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $43,591,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. WR Wealth Planners LLC lifted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 15.2% during the second quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 431 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 5.0% during the second quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 1,238 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $215,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 3.6% during the second quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC now owns 1,714 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. SouthState Corp lifted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 1.5% during the second quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 4,122 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $715,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. 76.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MPC has been the subject of several recent research reports. 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 report on Wednesday, October 9th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $198.00 to $193.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 16th. Tudor Pickering downgraded Marathon Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. downgraded Marathon Petroleum from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $172.00 to $167.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Two 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $185.07.

Marathon Petroleum Price Performance

Shares of MPC stock opened at $155.36 on Friday. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a fifty-two week low of $140.98 and a fifty-two week high of $221.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.31, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.23. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $158.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $166.95.

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

Marathon Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company 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 of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.34%. This is a positive change from Marathon Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.84%.

Marathon Petroleum announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are 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.