Comerica Bank Reduces Stock Holdings in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Comerica Bank decreased its holdings in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 2.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 99,202 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 2,037 shares during the quarter. Comerica Bank’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $19,989,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Castleark Management LLC lifted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 19.3% in the first quarter. Castleark Management LLC now owns 19,739 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,977,000 after acquiring an additional 3,200 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 19.6% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 44,149 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $8,883,000 after acquiring an additional 7,244 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 4.7% in the first quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 13,188 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,657,000 after acquiring an additional 588 shares during the period. Dynasty Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Marathon Petroleum during the first quarter valued at $1,544,000. Finally, Bridgeway Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Marathon Petroleum by 2.3% during the first quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 83,600 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $16,845,000 after buying an additional 1,900 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MPC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Marathon Petroleum in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $200.00 price objective for the company. Raymond James lowered their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $223.00 to $196.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $207.00 to $191.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $222.00 to $231.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 15th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Marathon Petroleum presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $193.64.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Performance

NYSE MPC traded down $4.64 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $172.38. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 557,284 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,651,229. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a 12 month low of $133.65 and a 12 month high of $221.11. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $171.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $178.51. The company has a market cap of $60.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported $2.78 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $32.07 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $6.09 EPS. Marathon Petroleum’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 13.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.48%.

Marathon Petroleum announced that its board has initiated a share buyback 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 often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.