Pacer Advisors Inc. Sells 1,974,794 Shares of Marathon Petroleum Corporation $MPC

Pacer Advisors Inc. reduced its position in Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) by 98.3% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 33,363 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 1,974,794 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $6,430,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 11.2% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,866,104 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $6,456,049,000 after buying an additional 3,924,713 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 14.8% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,013,213 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,325,598,000 after acquiring an additional 1,033,645 shares during the period. Boston Partners raised its position in Marathon Petroleum by 13.1% in the second quarter. Boston Partners now owns 6,163,737 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,024,395,000 after purchasing an additional 715,223 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 12.8% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,619,398 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $933,438,000 after purchasing an additional 637,050 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Marathon Petroleum during the second quarter worth about $527,197,000. Institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Marathon Petroleum Price Performance

Marathon Petroleum stock opened at $163.72 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $187.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $180.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 1.32. The firm has a market cap of $49.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.45, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.72. Marathon Petroleum Corporation has a 52 week low of $115.10 and a 52 week high of $202.29.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The oil and gas company reported $3.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.00 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $34.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.06 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 9.76% and a net margin of 2.13%. Equities research analysts forecast that Marathon Petroleum Corporation will post 8.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 19th were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 19th. This is a positive change from Marathon Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.64%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MPC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen cut Marathon Petroleum from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 20th. UBS Group upped their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $203.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $170.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $182.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $203.07.

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.