Prospera Financial Services Inc Grows Position in Marathon Petroleum Corporation $MPC

Prospera Financial Services Inc grew its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) by 6.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,550 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 542 shares during the quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $1,421,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MPC. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 12.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,941,391 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $5,090,611,000 after purchasing an additional 3,834,501 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 18.7% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,824,177 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,722,664,000 after acquiring an additional 1,862,674 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 6.3% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 6,037,532 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $879,608,000 after acquiring an additional 355,215 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 637,050 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners boosted its position in Marathon Petroleum by 58.5% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,448,514 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $791,274,000 after purchasing an additional 2,011,810 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $170.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $203.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Dbs Bank raised Marathon Petroleum to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $144.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.00.

Marathon Petroleum Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of Marathon Petroleum stock opened at $199.87 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $188.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $173.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31. Marathon Petroleum Corporation has a 12-month low of $115.10 and a 12-month high of $201.72. The company has a market cap of $60.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.31, a PEG ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 0.90.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The oil and gas company reported $3.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $0.01. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 2.13% and a return on equity of 9.76%. The company had revenue of $34.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.06 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that Marathon Petroleum Corporation will post 8.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 19th will be issued a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 19th. This is an increase from Marathon Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is currently 38.81%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Molly R. Benson sold 10,879 shares of Marathon Petroleum stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.00, for a total transaction of $1,773,277.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 28,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,678,100. This trade represents a 27.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

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.