Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Increases Position in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 18.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 129,206 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 20,262 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $26,035,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MPC. Scotia Capital Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 71.9% during the third quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 19,859 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,006,000 after buying an additional 8,303 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 8.1% during the third quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 157,017 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $23,763,000 after purchasing an additional 11,797 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 4.4% during the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 219,135 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $33,175,000 after purchasing an additional 9,212 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP raised its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 534.1% during the third quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 11,096 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,679,000 after purchasing an additional 9,346 shares during the period. Finally, Belpointe Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 95.4% during the third quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 3,587 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $543,000 after purchasing an additional 1,751 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on MPC. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $227.00 to $223.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. Tudor Pickering raised shares of Marathon Petroleum to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Raymond James cut their target price on shares of 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. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $185.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $191.31.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Down 2.4 %

MPC traded down $4.25 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $170.74. 1,587,492 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,449,349. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $176.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $176.43. The company has a market cap of $60.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.53, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.40. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a fifty-two week low of $112.82 and a fifty-two week high of $221.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported $2.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.53 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $32.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $32.07 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 5.32% and a return on equity of 25.87%. The company’s revenue was down 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $6.09 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 17.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th were given a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 15th. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is currently 16.48%.

Marathon Petroleum announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, April 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the oil and gas company to reacquire up to 7.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

About Marathon Petroleum

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.