State of Wyoming Makes New $725,000 Investment in Marathon Petroleum Corporation $MPC

State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,836 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $725,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its position in Marathon Petroleum by 31.0% during the 1st quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 213,545 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $52,146,000 after acquiring an additional 50,521 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 570.7% during the first quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 168,644 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $41,180,000 after purchasing an additional 143,500 shares during the last quarter. North Dakota State Investment Board acquired a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the fourth quarter worth $1,714,000. ABC Arbitrage SA purchased a new position in Marathon Petroleum in the 4th quarter valued at $4,977,000. Finally, Shepherd Street Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Marathon Petroleum in the 4th quarter valued at $878,000. 76.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on MPC. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $344.00 to $359.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $235.00 to $257.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Marathon Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $321.00 price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $291.00 to $376.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $312.50.

Marathon Petroleum Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE:MPC opened at $355.61 on Monday. Marathon Petroleum Corporation has a 1 year low of $160.87 and a 1 year high of $360.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.25. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $287.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $248.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $103.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.22, a PEG ratio of 0.23 and a beta of 0.52.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The oil and gas company reported $17.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $14.27 by $3.46. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 5.48% and a return on equity of 31.96%. The company had revenue of $51.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.96 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 53.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Marathon Petroleum Corporation will post 46.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is currently 13.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Marathon Petroleum news, VP Michael A. Henschen II sold 6,336 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.82, for a total transaction of $1,703,243.52. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 16,900 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,543,058. This represents a 27.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

About Marathon Petroleum

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.