8,436 Shares in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) Bought by Saxon Interests Inc.

Saxon Interests Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 8,436 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,252,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 19.4% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 5,603 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $479,000 after purchasing an additional 910 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. acquired a new position in Marathon Petroleum in the 1st quarter valued at $282,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 18,559 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,584,000 after acquiring an additional 293 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 25.1% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 90,916 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $7,800,000 after buying an additional 18,230 shares during the period. Finally, Moors & Cabot Inc. raised its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 11.0% in the 1st quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 9,438 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $807,000 after buying an additional 937 shares during the period. 76.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on MPC. Raymond James lifted their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Citigroup began coverage on Marathon Petroleum in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. TD Cowen upped their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $168.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $183.00 to $214.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $185.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Marathon Petroleum has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.09.

Marathon Petroleum Price Performance

Marathon Petroleum stock traded up $4.51 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $201.50. The stock had a trading volume of 6,064,106 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,881,661. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.56, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.50. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a 1-year low of $104.32 and a 1-year high of $203.01. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $174.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $158.54.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The oil and gas company reported $3.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $1.77. The company had revenue of $36.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.90 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 30.58% and a net margin of 6.44%. Marathon Petroleum’s revenue was down 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $6.65 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 15.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 21st were paid a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 20th. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is currently 14.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kim K.W. Rucker sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.35, for a total transaction of $170,350.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,446 shares in the company, valued at $3,994,026.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Marathon Petroleum Company 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.