LGT Group Foundation Has $14.93 Million Holdings in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

LGT Group Foundation trimmed its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 101,648 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 2,485 shares during the period. LGT Group Foundation’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $14,930,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA acquired a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. bought a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners acquired a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the fourth quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Peoples Bank KS bought a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the third quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on MPC. Bank of America upped their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $185.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com upgraded Marathon Petroleum from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $168.00 to $221.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $168.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Marathon Petroleum currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $193.62.

Insider Activity

In other Marathon Petroleum news, Director Kim K.W. Rucker sold 1,000 shares of Marathon Petroleum stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.35, for a total value of $170,350.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 23,446 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,994,026.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Marathon Petroleum Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of MPC stock traded up $3.06 on Thursday, hitting $182.03. The stock had a trading volume of 884,191 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,774,005. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a twelve month low of $104.32 and a twelve month high of $221.11. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $193.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $167.76. The firm has a market cap of $65.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.94, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.55.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported $2.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.53 by $0.25. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 25.44% and a net margin of 5.32%. The company had revenue of $32.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $32.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $6.09 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 20.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is currently 16.48%.

Marathon Petroleum announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, April 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the oil and gas company to repurchase up to 7.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Marathon Petroleum Profile

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.