KRS Capital Management LLC Sells 137 Shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

KRS Capital Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 7.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,709 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 137 shares during the quarter. KRS Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $238,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 27.7% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 43,174 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $7,033,000 after acquiring an additional 9,355 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 1,204.8% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 543,062 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $75,757,000 after acquiring an additional 501,441 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 747.3% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 21,275 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,466,000 after acquiring an additional 18,764 shares in the last quarter. Holistic Planning LLC bought a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the third quarter valued at about $912,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 4,227.5% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 69,759 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $11,364,000 after acquiring an additional 68,147 shares in the last quarter. 76.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MPC has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $172.00 to $171.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $186.00 to $182.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $170.00 target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Raymond James lifted their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $190.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $200.00 to $190.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $181.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Marathon Petroleum news, Director Jeffrey C. Campbell purchased 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $149.61 per share, for a total transaction of $897,660.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 6,090 shares in the company, valued at $911,124.90. This represents a 6,666.67 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Up 0.7 %

MPC stock traded up $1.13 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $152.83. The company had a trading volume of 2,479,994 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,802,449. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.23. The company has a market capitalization of $49.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.42. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $147.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $159.47. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a fifty-two week low of $130.54 and a fifty-two week high of $221.11.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The oil and gas company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.90. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 16.19% and a net margin of 3.15%. The company had revenue of $35.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $8.14 EPS. Marathon Petroleum’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th were paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 20th. This is an increase from Marathon Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.84%.

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