Fielder Capital Group LLC Takes $276,000 Position in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Fielder Capital Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,858 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $276,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MPC. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 1.0% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,526,814 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $685,088,000 after buying an additional 43,989 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 4,102,057 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $608,581,000 after buying an additional 96,753 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 1.4% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,746,614 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $415,673,000 after buying an additional 36,987 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $347,365,000 after buying an additional 178,502 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 5.4% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,624,929 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $245,917,000 after buying an additional 82,576 shares during the period. 76.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MPC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Raymond James upped their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays reduced their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $221.00 to $195.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com raised Marathon Petroleum from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Mizuho reduced their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $202.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on Marathon Petroleum in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Marathon Petroleum has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $191.62.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Kim K.W. Rucker sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.35, for a total value of $170,350.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 23,446 shares in the company, valued at $3,994,026.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Performance

MPC stock traded up $0.23 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $182.78. 1,884,368 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,775,468. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $194.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $168.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $64.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.55. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a 12 month low of $104.32 and a 12 month high of $221.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported $2.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.53 by $0.25. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 5.32% and a return on equity of 25.87%. The business had revenue of $32.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $32.07 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $6.09 earnings per share. Marathon Petroleum’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 19.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.48%.

Marathon Petroleum declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, April 30th that permits the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the oil and gas company to repurchase up to 7.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors 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.