Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Marathon Petroleum Corporation $MPC

Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. decreased its holdings in Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) by 1.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,045 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 116 shares during the quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $1,336,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 12.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,941,391 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $5,090,611,000 after acquiring an additional 3,834,501 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 18.7% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,824,177 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,722,664,000 after acquiring an additional 1,862,674 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 6.3% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 6,037,532 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $879,608,000 after acquiring an additional 355,215 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 58.5% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,448,514 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $791,274,000 after acquiring an additional 2,011,810 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 3.7% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,982,348 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $725,878,000 after acquiring an additional 178,397 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Marathon Petroleum

In other news, Director Kim K.W. Rucker sold 7,392 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,293,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 18,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,315,200. This represents a 28.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Molly R. Benson sold 10,879 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.00, for a total transaction of $1,773,277.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 28,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,678,100. The trade was a 27.49% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on MPC shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $195.00 to $208.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Wolfe Research lowered Marathon Petroleum from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $203.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $184.00 to $188.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $144.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $195.00.

Marathon Petroleum Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MPC opened at $192.75 on Wednesday. Marathon Petroleum Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $115.10 and a fifty-two week high of $201.61. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $175.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $161.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 1.23. The firm has a market cap of $58.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.97.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The oil and gas company reported $3.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.74. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 8.38% and a net margin of 1.58%.The business had revenue of $34.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $4.12 EPS. Marathon Petroleum’s revenue was down 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Marathon Petroleum Corporation will post 8.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were given a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is 54.01%.

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.