Boston Partners Acquires 935,042 Shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Boston Partners boosted its holdings in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 37.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,436,704 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 935,042 shares during the quarter. Boston Partners’ holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $480,501,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SWS Partners increased its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 19.0% in the 4th quarter. SWS Partners now owns 17,577 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,452,000 after acquiring an additional 2,806 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 1,204.8% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 747.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 21,275 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,466,000 after acquiring an additional 18,764 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 4,227.5% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 69,759 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $11,364,000 after acquiring an additional 68,147 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nilsine Partners LLC increased its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Nilsine Partners LLC now owns 32,683 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,559,000 after acquiring an additional 1,746 shares during the last quarter. 76.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MPC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $160.00 to $156.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $174.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Barclays increased their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $159.00 to $161.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Raymond James increased their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $190.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Tudor Pickering upgraded Marathon Petroleum from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.13.

Insider Activity at Marathon Petroleum

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

Marathon Petroleum Trading Up 3.6 %

NYSE MPC opened at $146.27 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $45.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.23. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $148.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $152.76. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a fifty-two week low of $130.54 and a fifty-two week high of $221.11.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The oil and gas company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06 by $0.71. The company had revenue of $33.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.94 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 2.45%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.98 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 8.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were paid a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 19th. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is presently 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.