GF Fund Management CO. LTD. Sells 3,338 Shares of Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC)

GF Fund Management CO. LTD. lessened its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC - Free Report) by 3.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 84,305 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after selling 3,338 shares during the quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD.'s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $12,282,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 78.1% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,961,503 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $1,389,630,000 after buying an additional 4,367,774 shares during the last quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 12.8% in the 1st quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC now owns 4,713,595 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $686,724,000 after purchasing an additional 536,462 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 11.5% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,399,977 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $613,624,000 after purchasing an additional 452,043 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,937,348 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $549,260,000 after purchasing an additional 484,438 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners raised its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 37.4% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,436,704 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $480,501,000 after purchasing an additional 935,042 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $169.00 to $147.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Raymond James Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a report on Monday, June 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $180.00 to $182.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $168.00 to $184.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. They issued an "in-line" rating and a $170.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $176.13.

Marathon Petroleum Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of NYSE MPC traded down $2.46 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $172.01. The stock had a trading volume of 1,135,939 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,712,989. The firm has a market cap of $52.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.88. Marathon Petroleum Corporation has a twelve month low of $115.10 and a twelve month high of $183.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.19. The company's 50 day moving average price is $159.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $148.41.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The oil and gas company reported ($0.24) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.40) by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $31.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $28.91 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 1.75% and a return on equity of 8.89%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.58 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Marathon Petroleum Corporation will post 8.47 EPS for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st were given a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.12%. Marathon Petroleum's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.20%.

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.