Principal Securities Inc. Invests $659,000 in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 4,440 shares of the oil and gas company's stock, valued at approximately $659,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA acquired a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in Marathon Petroleum in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners purchased a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.77% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MPC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $204.00 to $190.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $214.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $172.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $185.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $190.77.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Down 1.9 %

MPC traded down $3.36 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $174.50. 4,657,406 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,733,761. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a fifty-two week low of $104.32 and a fifty-two week high of $221.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company has a market cap of $61.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.64, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.55. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $195.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $169.62.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported $2.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.53 by $0.25. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 25.87% and a net margin of 5.32%. The business had revenue of $32.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $32.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $6.09 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 19.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

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

Marathon Petroleum announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, April 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the oil and gas company to reacquire up to 7.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kim K.W. Rucker sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.35, for a total transaction of $170,350.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 23,446 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,994,026.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.21% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.