VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Takes $20.86 Million Position in Marathon Petroleum Corporation $MPC

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new stake in Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 125,600 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,863,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MPC. Activest Wealth Management raised its position in Marathon Petroleum by 290.2% in the 2nd quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 160 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Marathon Petroleum by 1,546.2% in the 1st quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 214 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Hughes Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Marathon Petroleum in the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. WPG Advisers LLC bought a new position in Marathon Petroleum in the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. raised its position in Marathon Petroleum by 1,621.4% in the 1st quarter. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. now owns 241 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MPC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Dbs Bank raised shares of Marathon Petroleum to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a report on Friday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $214.00 target price for the company. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $203.00 target price (up previously from $199.00) on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a report on Friday. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Marathon Petroleum from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $182.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.31.

Marathon Petroleum Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MPC opened at $184.14 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $180.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $165.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Marathon Petroleum Corporation has a 1-year low of $115.10 and a 1-year high of $201.61. The firm has a market cap of $55.98 billion, a PE ratio of 27.32, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.90.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The oil and gas company reported $3.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.74. The firm had revenue of $34.10 billion for 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%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.12 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Marathon Petroleum Corporation will post 8.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 20th. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.01%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Molly R. Benson sold 10,879 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider owned 28,700 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,678,100. This trade represents a 27.49% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Marathon Petroleum Profile

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.