GAMMA Investing LLC Invests $709,000 in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 4,781 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $709,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 1.0% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,526,814 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $685,088,000 after acquiring an additional 43,989 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates increased its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 4,102,057 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $608,581,000 after buying an additional 96,753 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 1.4% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,746,614 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $415,673,000 after buying an additional 36,987 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,341,364 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $347,365,000 after acquiring an additional 178,502 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 0.5% in the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 2,179,623 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $329,864,000 after acquiring an additional 11,622 shares in the last quarter. 76.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $168.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $201.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $193.77.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Marathon Petroleum Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of MPC traded up $1.47 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $199.72. The company had a trading volume of 1,703,070 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,802,556. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a 52 week low of $104.32 and a 52 week high of $221.11. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $190.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $165.60. The stock has a market cap of $71.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.47, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.52.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last posted 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. The business had revenue of $36.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.90 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 6.44% and a return on equity of 30.58%. The business’s revenue was down 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $6.65 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 19.42 EPS for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were given a $0.825 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 20th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.65%. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is 14.02%.

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.