Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) Shares Sold by State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D decreased its position in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 40.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 130,486 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 88,712 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $22,637,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Scarborough Advisors LLC increased its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC now owns 2,174 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $323,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the 1st quarter valued at about $36,823,000. Founders Financial Securities LLC raised its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 22.8% during the second quarter. Founders Financial Securities LLC now owns 4,972 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $863,000 after acquiring an additional 924 shares during the period. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings 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 worth $615,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 692,063 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $102,675,000 after acquiring an additional 103,471 shares during the period. 76.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on MPC shares. Tudor Pickering cut Marathon Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Marathon Petroleum in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $200.00 target price on the stock. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $190.00 to $168.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Marathon Petroleum from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Marathon Petroleum currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $198.38.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Performance

MPC opened at $161.49 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.31 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The company has a market capitalization of $56.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.38. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $170.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $180.07. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a 1-year low of $139.32 and a 1-year high of $221.11.

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

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st were issued a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is 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.