RiverFront Investment Group LLC Raises Holdings in Marathon Petroleum Corporation $MPC

RiverFront Investment Group LLC lifted its stake in Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) by 7.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,473 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 2,220 shares during the quarter. RiverFront Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $4,956,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MPC. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 332.4% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 320,499 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $52,123,000 after buying an additional 246,384 shares during the last quarter. Merewether Investment Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the second quarter worth about $35,548,000. Amundi boosted its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 11.8% in the third quarter. Amundi now owns 1,626,862 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $314,830,000 after buying an additional 172,172 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 2.3% in 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 buying an additional 141,691 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Credit Agricole S A purchased a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the third quarter worth about $20,370,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Marathon Petroleum

In other Marathon Petroleum news, insider Ricky D. Hessling sold 1,810 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.78, for a total transaction of $406,851.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 10,188 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,290,058.64. This represents a 15.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 4,473 shares of company stock worth $1,015,428 over the last ninety days. 0.17% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MPC. Scotiabank upped their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $174.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Barclays upped their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. UBS Group set a $285.00 price target on Marathon Petroleum in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Marathon Petroleum to $335.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on Marathon Petroleum to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Marathon Petroleum currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $259.44.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Performance

NYSE MPC opened at $255.16 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.66, a PEG ratio of 0.33 and a beta of 0.53. Marathon Petroleum Corporation has a twelve month low of $154.65 and a twelve month high of $261.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $234.57 and a 200 day moving average of $203.50.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The oil and gas company reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.91. The company had revenue of $34.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 16.22% and a net margin of 3.36%.Marathon Petroleum’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.24) EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Marathon Petroleum Corporation will post 29.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th will be issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.11%.

About Marathon Petroleum

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.