Demars Financial Group LLC Takes $3.50 Million Position in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Demars Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 23,603 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,502,000. Marathon Petroleum makes up 1.9% of Demars Financial Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MPC. Aspire Private Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Aspire Private Capital LLC now owns 3,456 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $523,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 10,899 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,617,000 after buying an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 9.1% in the third quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC now owns 579,841 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $87,753,000 after buying an additional 48,540 shares in the last quarter. Trust Point Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the 4th quarter worth about $738,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. raised its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 8,925 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,324,000 after acquiring an additional 537 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kim K.W. Rucker sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.35, for a total value of $170,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,446 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,994,026.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America upped their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $185.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com raised shares of Marathon Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 9th. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $159.00 to $204.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $193.77.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Up 1.0 %

MPC stock opened at $201.74 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.69 billion, a PE ratio of 8.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a fifty day moving average of $190.68 and a 200-day moving average of $165.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.59. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a one year low of $104.32 and a one year high of $221.11.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The oil and gas company reported $3.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $1.77. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 6.44% and a return on equity of 30.58%. The firm had revenue of $36.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $6.65 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 19.42 EPS for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 21st were paid a $0.825 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 20th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.02%.

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.