Ascentis Independent Advisors Makes New $990,000 Investment in Marathon Petroleum Corporation $MPC

Ascentis Independent Advisors bought a new stake in Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 4,054 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $990,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,934,327 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,916,660,000 after buying an additional 47,896 shares during the period. Boston Partners increased its stake 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 last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Marathon Petroleum in the fourth quarter valued at $472,312,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,818,361 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $458,350,000 after purchasing an additional 11,693 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,600,191 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $422,869,000 after purchasing an additional 67,600 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Marathon Petroleum

In related news, VP Michael A. Henschen II sold 6,336 shares of the company’s 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 $4,543,058. This represents a 27.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.17% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Performance

Shares of MPC stock opened at $266.29 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $253.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $220.46. The company has a market cap of $77.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.38, a PEG ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 0.52. Marathon Petroleum Corporation has a 12 month low of $158.00 and a 12 month high of $272.46.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The oil and gas company reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 16.22% and a net margin of 3.36%.Marathon Petroleum’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.24) EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Marathon Petroleum Corporation will post 32.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 20th were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is presently 26.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $279.00 to $296.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $174.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $264.00 to $291.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Marathon Petroleum from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Marathon Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Ten research 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 stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $272.62.

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.