Meyer Handelman Co. Sells 3,610 Shares of Marathon Petroleum Corporation $MPC

Meyer Handelman Co. cut its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) by 1.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 237,926 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 3,610 shares during the period. Marathon Petroleum makes up approximately 1.5% of Meyer Handelman Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Meyer Handelman Co.’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $45,858,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MPC. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 11.2% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,866,104 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $6,456,049,000 after purchasing an additional 3,924,713 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the 2nd quarter valued at $527,197,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 14.8% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,013,213 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,325,598,000 after buying an additional 1,033,645 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 13.1% in the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 6,163,737 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,024,395,000 after buying an additional 715,223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 27,979.8% during the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 659,595 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $109,565,000 after acquiring an additional 657,246 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of MPC opened at $163.72 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.72. Marathon Petroleum Corporation has a 1 year low of $115.10 and a 1 year high of $202.29. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $187.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $180.07.

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

Marathon Petroleum Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 19th were issued a $1.00 dividend. This is a boost from Marathon Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 19th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is presently 42.64%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on MPC shares. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $170.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Raymond James Financial cut their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $183.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $184.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Marathon Petroleum presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $203.07.

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.