Capital Wealth Planning LLC Acquires 102,734 Shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Capital Wealth Planning LLC boosted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 8.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,271,923 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 102,734 shares during the quarter. Marathon Petroleum accounts for 1.6% of Capital Wealth Planning LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Capital Wealth Planning LLC’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $177,433,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MPC. Americana Partners LLC bought a new stake in Marathon Petroleum during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $411,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 42.9% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,459 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $564,000 after acquiring an additional 1,038 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC raised its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 14,818 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,278,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the period. swisspartners Advisors Ltd raised its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. swisspartners Advisors Ltd now owns 19,725 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,213,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the period. Finally, Princeton Global Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 24,420 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,978,000 after acquiring an additional 658 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MPC. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $190.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $182.00 to $183.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $168.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $174.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Tudor Pickering upgraded shares of Marathon Petroleum from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Marathon Petroleum currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $181.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Jeffrey C. Campbell bought 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $149.61 per share, with a total value of $897,660.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.21% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Marathon Petroleum Trading Up 1.4 %

MPC stock opened at $150.07 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $148.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $155.62. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a fifty-two week low of $130.54 and a fifty-two week high of $221.11. 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 firm has a market cap of $48.23 billion, a PE ratio of 15.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.41.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The oil and gas company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.06 by $0.71. The company had revenue of $33.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.94 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 2.45% and a return on equity of 12.07%. Marathon Petroleum’s quarterly revenue was down 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.98 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 8.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is 36.66%.

Marathon Petroleum announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, November 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the oil and gas company to purchase up to 10% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign 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.