Empirical Finance LLC Acquires 457 Shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Empirical Finance LLC grew its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 1.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 24,437 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 457 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $4,924,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,153,636 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $764,526,000 after acquiring an additional 137,341 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 4,178,977 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $842,064,000 after buying an additional 76,920 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the 4th quarter worth $500,685,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,341,364 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $347,365,000 after buying an additional 178,502 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service increased its position in Marathon Petroleum by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 969,120 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $143,779,000 after buying an additional 26,941 shares in the last quarter. 76.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Marathon Petroleum Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE MPC traded up $1.17 during trading on Friday, hitting $165.46. The stock had a trading volume of 2,248,081 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,692,776. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.40. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $174.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $176.75. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a one year low of $117.28 and a one year high of $221.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.43.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported $2.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.53 by $0.25. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 25.87% and a net margin of 5.32%. The company had revenue of $32.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $32.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $6.09 EPS. Marathon Petroleum’s quarterly revenue was down 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 16.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, April 30th that allows the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the oil and gas company to buy up to 7.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th were paid a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 15th. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.48%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America increased their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $185.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. StockNews.com downgraded Marathon Petroleum from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $195.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 1st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $223.00 to $196.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $189.23.

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.