Significantly high institutional ownership implies Marathon Petroleum’s stock price is sensitive to their trading actions
The top 24 shareholders own 50% of the company
Using data from analyst forecasts alongside ownership research, one can better assess the future performance of a company
If you want to know who really controls Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC), then you’ll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. We can see that institutions own the lion’s share in the company with 76% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).
As a result, institutional investors endured the highest losses last week after market cap fell by US$3.9b. Needless to say, the recent loss which further adds to the one-year loss to shareholders of 22% might not go down well especially with this category of shareholders. Institutions or “liquidity providers” control large sums of money and therefore, these types of investors usually have a lot of influence over stock price movements. As a result, if the downtrend continues, institutions may face pressures to sell Marathon Petroleum, which might have negative implications on individual investors.
In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Marathon Petroleum.
Check out our latest analysis for Marathon Petroleum
NYSE:MPC Ownership Breakdown March 8th 2025
Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.
Marathon Petroleum already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can’t rely on that fact alone since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. If multiple institutions change their view on a stock at the same time, you could see the share price drop fast. It’s therefore worth looking at Marathon Petroleum’s earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.
NYSE:MPC Earnings and Revenue Growth March 8th 2025
Investors should note that institutions actually own more than half the company, so they can collectively wield significant power. Marathon Petroleum is not owned by hedge funds. The Vanguard Group, Inc. is currently the largest shareholder, with 10.0% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 7.9% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 6.6% by the third-largest shareholder.
Story Continues