Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Sells 2,960 Shares of Marathon Petroleum Corporation $MPC

Key Points

• Royal London Asset Management reduced its Marathon Petroleum stake by 1.7%, selling 2,960 shares and retaining 169,614 shares valued at approximately $43.4 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 76.77% of MPC.
• Analysts remain broadly positive, with 12 Buy ratings and six Holds, producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $312.50. Wells Fargo and Barclays recently raised their targets to $359 and $321, respectively.
• Marathon Petroleum reported quarterly EPS of $17.73, exceeding estimates by $3.46, while revenue rose 53.5% year over year to $51.99 billion. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $1.00 per share, equivalent to a 1.1% annual yield.

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. reduced its holdings in Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC - Free Report) by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 169,614 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after selling 2,960 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. owned approximately 0.06% of Marathon Petroleum worth $43,365,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MPC. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the second quarter valued at approximately $6,648,958,000. State Street Corp increased its position in Marathon Petroleum by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,934,327 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $2,916,660,000 after acquiring an additional 47,896 shares during the period. Boston Partners increased its position in Marathon Petroleum by 2.3% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 6,305,428 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $1,214,522,000 after acquiring an additional 141,691 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Marathon Petroleum during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,029,611,000. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Marathon Petroleum during the 4th quarter valued at $472,312,000. 76.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Evercore set a $330.00 price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $344.00 to $359.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $289.00 to $321.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Zacks Research downgraded Marathon Petroleum from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Marathon Petroleum has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $312.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Molly R. Benson sold 17,196 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.57, for a total value of $6,165,969.72. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 30,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,876,862.38. This represents a 36.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Michael A. Henschen II sold 6,336 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.82, for a total value of $1,703,243.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 16,900 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,543,058. The trade was a 27.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 26,032 shares of company stock worth $8,744,213 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company's stock.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Up 1.5%

MPC opened at $369.00 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $107.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.68, a P/E/G ratio of 0.24 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $308.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $260.20. Marathon Petroleum Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $161.93 and a fifty-two week high of $369.12.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The oil and gas company reported $17.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $14.27 by $3.46. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 5.48% and a return on equity of 31.96%. The company had revenue of $51.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $40.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.96 EPS. The business's revenue was up 53.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Marathon Petroleum Corporation will post 46.66 EPS for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be given a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 19th. Marathon Petroleum's dividend payout ratio is 13.75%.

Marathon Petroleum Company Profile

Marathon Petroleum Corporation NYSE: MPC is a U.S.-based downstream energy company engaged principally in the refining, marketing, supply and transportation of petroleum products. The company was formed through a spin-off from Marathon Oil in 2011 and operates an integrated system of refining and logistics assets that support the production and distribution of transportation fuels and other refined petroleum products.

Marathon Petroleum's operations include refining crude oil into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, asphalt and other specialty products, as well as managing the distribution and storage infrastructure needed to move those products to market.

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