Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Lowers Position in Marathon Petroleum Corporation $MPC

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. reduced its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 717,430 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 12,432 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.24% of Marathon Petroleum worth $138,277,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Associated Banc Corp raised its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Associated Banc Corp now owns 2,475 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $477,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 2.6% during the third quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 2,363 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $456,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Marathon Petroleum by 2.8% in the second quarter. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,226 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $370,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA raised its position in Marathon Petroleum by 3.9% in the second quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 1,684 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $280,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FSM Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 1.6% in the third quarter. FSM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,944 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $760,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MPC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $183.00 to $211.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Raymond James Financial dropped their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $215.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $182.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Mizuho upped their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $198.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $170.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.79.

Marathon Petroleum Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of MPC opened at $176.18 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Marathon Petroleum Corporation has a 1-year low of $115.10 and a 1-year high of $202.29. The stock has a market cap of $52.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.74. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $182.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $180.56.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The oil and gas company reported $3.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.00 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $34.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.06 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 9.76% and a net margin of 2.13%. 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 19th were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 19th. This is an increase from Marathon Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is 42.64%.

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.