Liberty Square Wealth Partners LLC Buys New Holdings in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Liberty Square Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 7,530 shares of the oil and gas company's stock, valued at approximately $1,050,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Asset Planning Inc bought a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Cape Investment Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 762.9% during the fourth quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 302 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.77% of the company's stock.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Performance

Shares of Marathon Petroleum stock traded up $1.24 during trading on Thursday, hitting $159.85. 1,961,160 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,702,958. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a 1 year low of $115.10 and a 1 year high of $183.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.10, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.87. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $142.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $146.17.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The oil and gas company reported ($0.24) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.40) by $0.16. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 2.45%. The company had revenue of $31.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $28.91 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.58 earnings per share. Marathon Petroleum's revenue was down 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 8.47 EPS for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be given a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.28%. Marathon Petroleum's payout ratio is 51.20%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Evan Bayh bought 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $133.70 per share, with a total value of $133,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 69,305 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,266,078.50. This trade represents a 1.46% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ricky D. Hessling acquired 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $134.72 per share, for a total transaction of $269,440.00. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 12,162 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,638,464.64. This trade represents a 19.68% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.21% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on MPC. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $160.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays increased their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $141.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Tudor Pickering upgraded Marathon Petroleum from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Raymond James decreased their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $193.00 to $183.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $142.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Marathon Petroleum presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $175.29.

About Marathon Petroleum

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.