First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Has $3.38 Million Holdings in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 4.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,763 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 644 shares during the quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $3,378,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the 4th quarter worth about $500,685,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 256.3% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 884,573 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $131,235,000 after purchasing an additional 636,281 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 309.9% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 643,590 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $95,483,000 after buying an additional 486,573 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 248.1% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 608,888 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $90,335,000 after buying an additional 433,977 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canoe Financial LP purchased a new stake in Marathon Petroleum in the 4th quarter valued at $33,604,000. 76.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James reduced their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $195.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $211.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $190.00 to $168.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Six research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $191.31.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Performance

NYSE MPC traded up $0.85 during trading on Thursday, hitting $174.99. 1,344,597 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,601,003. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $61.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.74, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.40. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a 12-month low of $112.82 and a 12-month high of $221.11. The business has a 50 day moving average of $177.24 and a 200-day moving average of $176.30.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported $2.78 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $32.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $32.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $6.09 EPS. Marathon Petroleum’s revenue was down 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 17.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th were paid a dividend of $0.825 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.89%. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is 16.48%.

Marathon Petroleum declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, April 30th that permits the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the oil and gas company to purchase up to 7.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase 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.