Fifth Third Bancorp Trims Stock Holdings in Marathon Petroleum Corporation $MPC

Fifth Third Bancorp cut its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) by 1.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 536,024 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 8,395 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp owned 0.18% of Marathon Petroleum worth $103,313,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Marathon Petroleum by 11.2% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,866,104 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $6,456,049,000 after purchasing an additional 3,924,713 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the second quarter valued at about $527,197,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 14.8% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,013,213 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,325,598,000 after buying an additional 1,033,645 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 13.1% during the second quarter. Boston Partners now owns 6,163,737 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,024,395,000 after buying an additional 715,223 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its position in Marathon Petroleum by 27,979.8% in the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 659,595 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $109,565,000 after acquiring an additional 657,246 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on MPC. Wall Street Zen cut Marathon Petroleum from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 20th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $174.00 price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a report on Friday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $204.00 to $211.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $216.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 26th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $202.19.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Up 2.7%

Shares of NYSE MPC opened at $203.33 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $61.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.74. Marathon Petroleum Corporation has a 52 week low of $115.10 and a 52 week high of $210.32. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $178.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $182.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The oil and gas company reported $4.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.73 by $0.34. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 2.99% and a return on equity of 14.00%. The company had revenue of $35.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.89 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.77 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Marathon Petroleum Corporation will post 8.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 18th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is currently 29.96%.

About Marathon Petroleum

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.