Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Acquires New Stake in Marathon Petroleum Corporation $MPC

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 711,745 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $181,972,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MPC. State Street Corp grew its position in Marathon Petroleum by 0.3% during the fourth 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 raised its position in Marathon Petroleum by 2.3% in 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 period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Marathon Petroleum in the second quarter worth approximately $1,029,611,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the 4th quarter worth $472,312,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 0.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 11,693 shares during the period. 76.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on MPC. Evercore set a $330.00 price objective on Marathon Petroleum in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $344.00 to $359.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Zacks Research cut Marathon Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $357.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $312.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Marathon Petroleum news, VP Michael A. Henschen II sold 6,336 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.82, for a total transaction of $1,703,243.52. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 16,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,543,058. This trade represents a 27.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Shawn M. Lyon sold 2,500 shares of Marathon Petroleum stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.00, for a total transaction of $875,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 12,619 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,416,650. The trade was a 16.54% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Marathon Petroleum Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of Marathon Petroleum stock opened at $359.78 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $105.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.37, a P/E/G ratio of 0.23 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.25. The company has a fifty day moving average of $289.19 and a 200 day moving average of $249.51. Marathon Petroleum Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $160.87 and a fifty-two week high of $363.34.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The oil and gas company reported $17.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $14.27 by $3.46. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 31.96% and a net margin of 5.48%.The business had revenue of $51.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.96 EPS. Marathon Petroleum’s revenue for the quarter was up 53.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Marathon Petroleum Corporation will post 46.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 19th. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.75%.

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.