swisspartners Advisors Ltd Grows Stock Holdings in Marathon Petroleum Corporation $MPC

swisspartners Advisors Ltd increased its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) by 9.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,250 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 2,245 shares during the quarter. Marathon Petroleum comprises about 4.1% of swisspartners Advisors Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest position. swisspartners Advisors Ltd’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $4,355,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MPC. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Marathon Petroleum by 12.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,941,391 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $5,090,611,000 after purchasing an additional 3,834,501 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted 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 valued at $791,274,000 after purchasing an additional 2,011,810 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 1,862,674 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Marathon Petroleum in the first quarter valued at about $147,122,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Marathon Petroleum by 26.5% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,675,362 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $535,465,000 after purchasing an additional 769,015 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Marathon Petroleum Price Performance

MPC stock opened at $195.01 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $186.45 and a 200-day moving average of $169.96. Marathon Petroleum Corporation has a 12-month low of $115.10 and a 12-month high of $201.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The company has a market cap of $59.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.93, a PEG ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.90.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The oil and gas company reported $3.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.74. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 8.38% and a net margin of 1.58%.The firm had revenue of $34.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.12 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Marathon Petroleum Corporation will post 8.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 19th will be given a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 19th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. This is an increase from Marathon Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is presently 59.35%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Molly R. Benson sold 10,879 shares of Marathon Petroleum stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 28,700 shares in the company, valued at $4,678,100. The trade was a 27.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.21% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on MPC. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $195.00 to $208.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a research report on Friday, October 17th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $214.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $203.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Marathon Petroleum presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.31.

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.