Shepherd Financial Partners LLC Takes Position in Marathon Petroleum Corporation $MPC

Shepherd Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 4,513 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,154,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Marathon Petroleum during the second quarter worth about $6,648,958,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,029,611,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $472,312,000. Capital Wealth Planning LLC grew its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 49,392.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 1,498,124 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $245,157,000 after purchasing an additional 1,495,097 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 3,816.8% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,306,749 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $212,517,000 after buying an additional 1,273,386 shares during the period. 76.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on MPC. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $233.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $235.00 to $257.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Marathon Petroleum from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $284.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six 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 price target of $312.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Marathon Petroleum

In other Marathon Petroleum news, SVP Shawn M. Lyon sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.00, for a total value of $875,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 12,619 shares in the company, valued at $4,416,650. This trade represents a 16.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael A. Henschen II sold 6,336 shares of Marathon Petroleum stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.82, for a total value of $1,703,243.52. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 16,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,543,058. This trade represents a 27.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of Marathon Petroleum stock opened at $361.02 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Marathon Petroleum Corporation has a 52-week low of $161.93 and a 52-week high of $367.24. The company has a market capitalization of $105.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.41, a P/E/G ratio of 0.24 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a 50 day moving average of $293.31 and a 200 day moving average of $252.19.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The oil and gas company reported $17.73 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $40.87 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.96 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 53.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Marathon Petroleum Corporation will post 46.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

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

Marathon Petroleum Profile

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.