Syon Capital LLC Buys 3,310 Shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Syon Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 24.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 16,586 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,310 shares during the quarter. Syon Capital LLC’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $2,461,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MPC. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the third quarter valued at about $109,099,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 127.0% in the third quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,232,706 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $186,536,000 after acquiring an additional 689,576 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 256.3% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 884,573 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $131,235,000 after acquiring an additional 636,281 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 248.1% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 608,888 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $90,335,000 after acquiring an additional 433,977 shares during the period. Finally, Korea Investment CORP boosted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 61.9% in the third quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 662,266 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $100,227,000 after acquiring an additional 253,321 shares during the period. 76.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MPC. StockNews.com raised shares of Marathon Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 9th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $201.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Barclays boosted their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $168.00 to $221.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $185.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $193.77.

Marathon Petroleum Price Performance

NYSE MPC traded down $1.12 during trading on Friday, hitting $198.39. 1,892,287 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,756,025. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The company has a market cap of $71.49 billion, a PE ratio of 8.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.52. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a fifty-two week low of $104.32 and a fifty-two week high of $221.11. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $191.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $166.46.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The oil and gas company reported $3.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $1.77. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 30.58% and a net margin of 6.44%. The company had revenue of $36.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $6.65 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 20.49 EPS for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.02%.

Insider Activity

In other Marathon Petroleum news, Director Kim K.W. Rucker sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.35, for a total transaction of $170,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 23,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,994,026.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.