Woodward Diversified Capital LLC Takes $306,000 Position in Marathon Petroleum Corporation $MPC

Key Points

• Woodward Diversified Capital LLC has purchased a new stake in Marathon Petroleum Corporation, acquiring 1,842 shares valued at approximately $306,000.
• Analysts have increased their price targets for Marathon Petroleum, with Barclays raising it to $189.00 and UBS Group setting a target of $220.00, indicating strong analyst confidence in the stock.
• The company recently disclosed a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share, reflecting a dividend yield of 1.9% and a payout ratio of 54.01%.

Woodward Diversified Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,842 shares of the oil and gas company's stock, valued at approximately $306,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 1,546.2% during the first quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 214 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Hughes Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. WPG Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 1,621.4% during the first quarter. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. now owns 241 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Marathon Petroleum in the first quarter worth approximately $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.77% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Marathon Petroleum

In related news, insider Molly R. Benson sold 10,879 shares of Marathon Petroleum stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.00, for a total transaction of $1,773,277.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 28,700 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,678,100. The trade was a 27.49% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.21% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MPC. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $159.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $184.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Mizuho raised their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $184.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $160.00 to $182.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $203.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $195.00.

Marathon Petroleum Trading Up 0.0%

NYSE:MPC opened at $192.36 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $58.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.90. Marathon Petroleum Corporation has a one year low of $115.10 and a one year high of $201.61. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $176.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $161.84.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The oil and gas company reported $3.96 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.74. The firm had revenue of $34.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.70 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 8.38% and a net margin of 1.58%.Marathon Petroleum's revenue was down 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.12 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Marathon Petroleum Corporation will post 8.47 EPS for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were paid a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Marathon Petroleum's dividend payout ratio is 54.01%.

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.

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