Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Buys 196,282 Shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 14.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,571,062 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 196,282 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $219,163,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Marathon Petroleum in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in Marathon Petroleum during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new position in Marathon Petroleum in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 762.9% in the fourth quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 302 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the fourth quarter valued at $44,000. Institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on MPC. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $160.00 to $156.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Tudor Pickering raised shares of Marathon Petroleum from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $161.00 to $141.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $185.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Raymond James cut their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $193.00 to $183.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $175.79.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Evan Bayh acquired 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $133.70 per share, for a total transaction of $133,700.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 69,305 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,266,078.50. The trade was a 1.46 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ricky D. Hessling bought 2,000 shares of Marathon Petroleum stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $134.72 per share, with a total value of $269,440.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now owns 12,162 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,638,464.64. This trade represents a 19.68 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MPC opened at $124.11 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $38.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $141.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $148.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a fifty-two week low of $115.10 and a fifty-two week high of $205.61.

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

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 19th. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.66%.

Marathon Petroleum Company 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.