Principal Financial Group Inc. Trims Stake in Marathon Petroleum Corporation $MPC

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its position in Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) by 7.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,886,848 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 154,333 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.62% of Marathon Petroleum worth $363,671,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Marathon Petroleum by 30.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,988 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $696,000 after purchasing an additional 1,178 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP increased its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 38.3% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 26,697 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,889,000 after purchasing an additional 7,396 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 26.6% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,221 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $369,000 after buying an additional 466 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 6.6% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 56,973 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $9,464,000 after buying an additional 3,524 shares during the period. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 503.3% during the second quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 129,477 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $21,507,000 after buying an additional 108,016 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Marathon Petroleum Price Performance

MPC stock opened at $176.06 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $177.62 and a 200-day moving average of $180.53. The company has a market cap of $52.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.77, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31. Marathon Petroleum Corporation has a 12-month low of $115.10 and a 12-month high of $202.29.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The oil and gas company reported $3.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $0.01. The firm 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%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Marathon Petroleum Corporation will post 8.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MPC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $231.00 to $184.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $185.00 to $182.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $206.00 to $204.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $202.00 to $194.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $197.19.

Marathon Petroleum 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.