Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) Stake Cut by Perpetual Ltd

Perpetual Ltd lessened its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC - Free Report) by 60.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,700 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after selling 2,648 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd's holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $248,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MPC. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 78.1% during the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 4,367,774 shares during the last quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC grew its position in Marathon Petroleum by 16,338.3% in the 4th quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC now owns 4,177,133 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $582,710,000 after purchasing an additional 4,151,722 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $453,427,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 14,969.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,540,963 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $224,503,000 after buying an additional 1,530,737 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners boosted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 37.4% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,436,704 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $480,501,000 after buying an additional 935,042 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.77% of the company's stock.

Marathon Petroleum Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MPC traded up $2.74 on Wednesday, reaching $172.69. 566,356 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,704,831. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.05 billion, a PE ratio of 24.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.88. The company's 50 day moving average is $157.46 and its 200-day moving average is $147.67. Marathon Petroleum Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $115.10 and a fifty-two week high of $183.31.

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 for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.40) by $0.16. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 8.89% and a net margin of 1.75%. The firm had revenue of $31.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $28.91 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.58 EPS. Marathon Petroleum's revenue was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Marathon Petroleum Corporation will post 8.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.11%. Marathon Petroleum's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on MPC. Barclays raised their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $141.00 to $159.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $169.00 to $147.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $152.00 to $163.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Marathon Petroleum from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Raymond James Financial increased their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $183.00 to $188.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday. One 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Marathon Petroleum currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $176.13.

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.