Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Purchases New Position in Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC)

Key Points

• Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd has acquired a new position in Marathon Petroleum Corporation by purchasing 2,723 shares valued at approximately $397,000.
• Marathon Petroleum recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 2.13%.
• Despite a recent decline in share price, analysts have raised their price targets for Marathon Petroleum, with Barclays setting a new target of $189.00 and multiple firms giving "buy" and "overweight" ratings.

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 2,723 shares of the oil and gas company's stock, valued at approximately $397,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise acquired a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the first quarter worth $429,000. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 1.5% during the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 205,611 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $29,956,000 after purchasing an additional 2,974 shares during the period. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 5.7% during the first quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 12,364 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $1,801,000 after purchasing an additional 665 shares during the period. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 34.1% during the first quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,669 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $680,000 after purchasing an additional 1,188 shares during the period. Finally, Fielder Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 12.0% during the first quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC now owns 2,070 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $302,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.77% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MPC. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $203.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $182.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $168.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Marathon Petroleum to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $160.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $183.93.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Down 2.8%

MPC traded down $4.72 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $165.47. The company had a trading volume of 1,385,293 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,970,498. Marathon Petroleum Corporation has a 52 week low of $115.10 and a 52 week high of $183.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16. The company has a market capitalization of $50.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.27, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.90. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $168.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $153.16.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The oil and gas company reported ($0.24) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.40) by $0.16. The company had revenue of $31.85 billion during 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 firm's revenue for the quarter was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.58 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Marathon Petroleum Corporation will post 8.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 20th. Marathon Petroleum's dividend payout ratio is presently 51.20%.

Insider Activity at Marathon Petroleum

In related news, Director Kim K.W. Rucker sold 7,392 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,293,600.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 18,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,315,200. This represents a 28.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.21% of the company's stock.

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.