Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) Insider Molly Benson Sells 17,196 Shares of Stock

Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) insider Molly Benson sold 17,196 shares of Marathon Petroleum stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.57, for a total transaction of $6,165,969.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 30,334 shares in the company, valued at $10,876,862.38. This trade represents a 36.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Marathon Petroleum Price Performance

Marathon Petroleum stock opened at $362.34 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $299.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $256.01. Marathon Petroleum Corporation has a 12 month low of $161.93 and a 12 month high of $367.60. The company has a market cap of $105.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.46, a PEG ratio of 0.23 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The oil and gas company reported $17.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $14.27 by $3.46. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 31.96% and a net margin of 5.48%.The business had revenue of $51.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.87 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.96 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 53.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Marathon Petroleum Corporation will post 46.66 EPS for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Marathon Petroleum

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 36,834.6% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 128,810,637 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $32,933,016,000 after acquiring an additional 128,461,884 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Marathon Petroleum in the second quarter valued at $6,648,958,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Marathon Petroleum in the second quarter valued at $1,029,611,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Marathon Petroleum during the fourth quarter valued at about $472,312,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in Marathon Petroleum during the second quarter valued at about $621,832,000. Institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MPC. Raymond James Financial lifted their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $224.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $235.00 to $257.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $291.00 to $376.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $284.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Marathon Petroleum has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $312.50.

Marathon Petroleum Company Profile

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.