Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. Increases Stock Position in Marathon Petroleum Corporation $MPC

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its stake in Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) by 11.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 23,143 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,400 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $5,587,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MPC. Diversified Trust Co. grew its position in Marathon Petroleum by 39.3% during the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co. now owns 15,675 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,549,000 after acquiring an additional 4,419 shares during the last quarter. USA Financial Formulas bought a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the 4th quarter worth approximately $791,000. North Dakota State Investment Board purchased a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the 4th quarter valued at $1,714,000. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 22.4% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 225,837 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $36,728,000 after purchasing an additional 41,259 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KKM Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 27.6% during the 3rd quarter. KKM Financial LLC now owns 26,202 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $5,050,000 after purchasing an additional 5,661 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MPC. Wall Street Zen raised Marathon Petroleum from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $233.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Raymond James Financial increased their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $344.00 target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a report on Monday, June 15th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Marathon Petroleum presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $272.62.

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 stock was sold at an average price of $268.82, for a total transaction of $1,703,243.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 16,900 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,543,058. The trade was a 27.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of MPC traded down $0.83 on Tuesday, reaching $268.16. The stock had a trading volume of 365,800 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,475,678. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.18. Marathon Petroleum Corporation has a 12-month low of $158.00 and a 12-month high of $272.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $78.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $252.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $219.16.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The oil and gas company reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.91. The business had revenue of $34.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 16.22% and a net margin of 3.36%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.24) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Marathon Petroleum Corporation will post 32.96 EPS for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.11%.

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.