Clark Capital Management Group Inc. Grows Stake in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Clark Capital Management Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 14.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,627 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 595 shares during the quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc.’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $645,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. SWS Partners boosted its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 19.0% in the fourth quarter. SWS Partners now owns 17,577 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,452,000 after buying an additional 2,806 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Marathon Petroleum by 1,204.8% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 543,062 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $75,757,000 after acquiring an additional 501,441 shares during the period. Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. now owns 161,171 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $22,483,000 after acquiring an additional 5,476 shares during the last quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 91,256 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $12,730,000 after purchasing an additional 2,892 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cambridge Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Marathon Petroleum in the 4th quarter worth $5,624,000. 76.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Evan Bayh bought 1,000 shares of Marathon Petroleum stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $133.70 per share, with a total value of $133,700.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 69,305 shares in the company, valued at $9,266,078.50. The trade was a 1.46 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Ricky D. Hessling purchased 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $134.72 per share, with a total value of $269,440.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now owns 12,162 shares in the company, valued at $1,638,464.64. This trade represents a 19.68 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on MPC. Raymond James reduced their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $193.00 to $183.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $185.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $169.00 to $147.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $161.00 to $141.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $172.93.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Performance

NYSE:MPC opened at $150.90 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a market cap of $47.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.20, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.87. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a 1 year low of $115.10 and a 1 year high of $184.72. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $137.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $145.16.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The oil and gas company reported ($0.24) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.40) by $0.16. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 2.45% and a return on equity of 12.07%. The business had revenue of $31.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $28.91 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.58 earnings per share. Marathon Petroleum’s quarterly revenue was down 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 8.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.41%. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is currently 36.66%.

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.