Marathon Petroleum Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:MPC)

Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors bought 6,146 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 100% compared to the average volume of 3,076 call options.

Insider Activity at Marathon Petroleum

In other news, VP Michael A. Henschen II sold 6,336 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The shares were 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 directly owned 16,900 shares in the company, valued at $4,543,058. This represents a 27.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Marathon Petroleum

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MPC. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Marathon Petroleum during the 2nd quarter valued at $6,648,958,000. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,934,327 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,916,660,000 after purchasing an additional 47,896 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 2.3% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 6,305,428 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,214,522,000 after purchasing an additional 141,691 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the second quarter valued at about $1,029,611,000. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the 4th quarter worth about $472,312,000. Institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Performance

NYSE:MPC traded up $1.40 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $357.77. The stock had a trading volume of 537,522 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,435,503. Marathon Petroleum has a twelve month low of $160.87 and a twelve month high of $360.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.25. The stock has a market cap of $104.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.29, a PEG ratio of 0.23 and a beta of 0.52. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $285.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $246.90.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The oil and gas company reported $17.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $14.27 by $3.46. The firm had revenue of $51.99 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.87 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 31.96% and a net margin of 5.48%.The business’s revenue was up 53.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.96 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Marathon Petroleum will post 46.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is currently 13.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $291.00 to $376.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $357.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $235.00 to $257.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $335.00 price objective on Marathon Petroleum and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, July 12th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $289.00 to $321.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $312.50.

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.