Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. reduced its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 16,284 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 335 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $2,825,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Financial Advocates Investment Management raised its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 114.5% in the second quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 2,398 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $416,000 after acquiring an additional 1,280 shares in the last quarter. WealthShield Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 5.5% in the second quarter. WealthShield Partners LLC now owns 14,576 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,529,000 after acquiring an additional 761 shares in the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd raised its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 4.1% in the second quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 933,135 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $161,880,000 after acquiring an additional 36,499 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 6.2% in the second quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 75,820 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $13,153,000 after acquiring an additional 4,404 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aspen Investment Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 16.3% in the second quarter. Aspen Investment Management Inc now owns 2,676 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $464,000 after acquiring an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. 76.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MPC. Raymond James reduced their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Tudor Pickering upgraded Marathon Petroleum to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $223.00 to $196.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Scotiabank cut their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $207.00 to $191.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $198.38.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MPC traded up $0.52 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $170.45. 1,015,489 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,607,094. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a 1 year low of $139.32 and a 1 year high of $221.11. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $171.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $180.25. The stock has a market cap of $60.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.50, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.40.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The oil and gas company reported $4.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.09 by $1.03. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 25.87% and a net margin of 5.32%. The firm had revenue of $38.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.66 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $5.32 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 13.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 21st. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.48%.

Marathon Petroleum Company 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.