Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Buys 8,303 Shares of Marathon Petroleum Corporation $MPC

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its stake in Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) by 31.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 34,782 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,303 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $6,704,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 worth $6,456,049,000 after acquiring an additional 3,924,713 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted 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 worth $1,325,598,000 after purchasing an additional 1,033,645 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 13.1% during the second quarter. Boston Partners now owns 6,163,737 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,024,395,000 after buying an additional 715,223 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of 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 valued at $933,438,000 after buying an additional 637,050 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the second quarter valued at approximately $527,197,000. Institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Marathon Petroleum Trading Down 0.4%

NYSE MPC opened at $176.39 on Friday. Marathon Petroleum Corporation has a one year low of $115.10 and a one year high of $202.29. 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 company has a market capitalization of $53.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 0.74. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $183.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $180.34.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The oil and gas company reported $3.01 earnings per share 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 net margin of 2.13% and a return on equity of 9.76%. Equities analysts forecast that Marathon Petroleum Corporation will post 8.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 19th were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. This is a boost from Marathon Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 19th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is 42.64%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on MPC shares. Raymond James Financial dropped their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $215.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Zacks Research raised shares of Marathon Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Marathon Petroleum from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 20th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.71.

Marathon Petroleum Company 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.