Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Takes $1.61 Million Position in Marathon Petroleum Corporation $MPC

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 6,297 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,610,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Marathon Petroleum in the second quarter worth $6,648,958,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,029,611,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Marathon Petroleum during the fourth quarter worth about $472,312,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in Marathon Petroleum in the second quarter worth about $621,832,000. Finally, Capital Wealth Planning LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 49,392.0% during 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Marathon Petroleum news, VP Michael A. Henschen II sold 6,336 shares of Marathon Petroleum stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $4,543,058. The trade was a 27.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Molly R. Benson sold 17,196 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.57, for a total transaction of $6,165,969.72. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 30,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,876,862.38. This trade represents a 36.18% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 26,032 shares of company stock worth $8,744,213 in the last three months. 0.17% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Up 1.5%

MPC stock opened at $369.00 on Friday. Marathon Petroleum Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $161.93 and a fifty-two week high of $369.12. The company has a market cap of $107.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.68, a P/E/G ratio of 0.24 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.25. The business’s 50-day moving average is $308.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $260.20.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The oil and gas company reported $17.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $14.27 by $3.46. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 31.96% and a net margin of 5.48%.The company had revenue of $51.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.87 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.96 EPS. Marathon Petroleum’s revenue for the quarter was up 53.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Marathon Petroleum Corporation will post 46.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is currently 13.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $235.00 to $257.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $344.00 to $359.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $343.00 to $344.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Marathon Petroleum from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $335.00 price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, July 12th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Marathon Petroleum currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $312.50.

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.