Van ECK Associates Corp Has $3.57 Million Stock Holdings in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Van ECK Associates Corp reduced its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 20,588 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 622 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $3,572,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Scarborough Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC now owns 2,174 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $323,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the 1st quarter worth $36,823,000. Canoe Financial LP acquired a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the 4th quarter worth $33,604,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 3.2% in the first quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,050 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $615,000 after buying an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Marathon Petroleum in the fourth quarter valued at about $659,000. 76.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on MPC. Raymond James reduced their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Tudor Pickering raised Marathon Petroleum to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Marathon Petroleum in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $200.00 price objective on the stock. TD Cowen increased their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Marathon Petroleum from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $198.38.

Marathon Petroleum Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of Marathon Petroleum stock opened at $171.75 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.51 billion, a PE ratio of 8.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.31. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a 52 week low of $139.32 and a 52 week high of $221.11. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $171.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $180.32.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The oil and gas company reported $4.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.09 by $1.03. The company had revenue of $38.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.66 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 24.05% and a net margin of 4.79%. Marathon Petroleum’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.32 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 12.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.825 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.92%. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.48%.

Marathon Petroleum 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.