Empower Advisory Group LLC Has $563,000 Stock Position in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Empower Advisory Group LLC lowered its stake in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,035 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 89 shares during the quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $563,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in Marathon Petroleum by 35.1% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 158,392 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $25,804,000 after buying an additional 41,131 shares during the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Marathon Petroleum by 7.8% during the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,874 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $305,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in Marathon Petroleum by 7.0% during the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 15,361 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,502,000 after buying an additional 1,006 shares during the last quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc increased its position in Marathon Petroleum by 4.8% during the third quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 15,267 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,487,000 after buying an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC increased its position in Marathon Petroleum by 2.3% during the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 48,221 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $7,856,000 after buying an additional 1,080 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MPC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $182.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $168.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 11th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $174.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $190.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Tudor Pickering upgraded Marathon Petroleum from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $181.27.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of MPC opened at $156.79 on Thursday. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a one year low of $130.54 and a one year high of $221.11. The company has a market cap of $50.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.79, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $146.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $156.63.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The oil and gas company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.06 by $0.71. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 2.45% and a return on equity of 12.07%. The business had revenue of $33.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.94 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.98 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 8.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.32%. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.66%.

Marathon Petroleum declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, November 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the oil and gas company to purchase up to 10% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Marathon Petroleum

In related news, Director Jeffrey C. Campbell purchased 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $149.61 per share, for a total transaction of $897,660.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 6,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $911,124.90. This represents a 6,666.67 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

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.