OLD Second National Bank of Aurora Purchases 67 Shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

OLD Second National Bank of Aurora lifted its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 7.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 994 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 67 shares during the quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $139,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MPC. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 1,037.7% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 12,207 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,118,000 after buying an additional 11,134 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 39,288 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $6,816,000 after purchasing an additional 1,432 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,637 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,713,000 after purchasing an additional 373 shares in the last quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC raised its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 17.3% in the 2nd quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 6,390 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,109,000 after purchasing an additional 943 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in Marathon Petroleum in the 2nd quarter worth about $494,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on MPC. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $174.00 price objective for the company. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $190.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $174.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $186.00 to $182.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped 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 report on Thursday, October 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued 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.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Jeffrey C. Campbell purchased 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $149.61 per share, for a total transaction of $897,660.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $911,124.90. This trade represents a 6,666.67 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Marathon Petroleum Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of Marathon Petroleum stock opened at $151.45 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.67 billion, a PE ratio of 12.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $146.87 and its 200 day moving average is $158.34. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a 1 year low of $130.54 and a 1 year high of $221.11.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last posted its 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 net margin of 3.15% and a return on equity of 16.19%. The firm had revenue of $35.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $8.14 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 8.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is 28.84%.

Marathon Petroleum declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program 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 reacquire up to 10% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Marathon Petroleum Company 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.