Ricky Hessling Sells 1,626 Shares of Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) Stock

Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) insider Ricky Hessling sold 1,626 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.18, for a total value of $371,020.68. Following the transaction, the insider owned 7,525 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,717,054.50. This trade represents a 17.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Performance

NYSE:MPC opened at $236.04 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $196.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $189.38. The stock has a market cap of $69.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.68, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.69. Marathon Petroleum Corporation has a 1-year low of $115.10 and a 1-year high of $238.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The oil and gas company reported $4.07 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.73 by $0.34. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 13.90% and a net margin of 2.99%.The firm had revenue of $32.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.89 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.77 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Marathon Petroleum Corporation will post 8.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 18th. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.96%.

Institutional Trading of Marathon Petroleum

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 11.2% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,866,104 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $6,456,049,000 after acquiring an additional 3,924,713 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 0.3% during the 4th 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 increased its position in Marathon Petroleum by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 6,305,428 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,214,522,000 after purchasing an additional 141,691 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Marathon Petroleum in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $527,197,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,818,361 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $458,350,000 after purchasing an additional 11,693 shares during the last quarter. 76.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on MPC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $211.00 to $179.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Piper Sandler cut their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $231.00 to $184.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Weiss Ratings raised Marathon Petroleum from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $183.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.44.

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.