Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) Shares Sold by Moors & Cabot Inc.

Moors & Cabot Inc. lowered its stake in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,140 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 112 shares during the quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $1,275,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MPC. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora grew its position in Marathon Petroleum by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora now owns 994 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $139,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. boosted its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. now owns 2,068 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $288,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the period. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC grew its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 4,271 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $596,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. American Trust lifted its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. American Trust now owns 1,397 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $228,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DT Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in Marathon Petroleum by 21.5% in the 4th quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 395 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. 76.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MPC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $182.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Mizuho cut their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $174.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a $170.00 price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $160.00 to $156.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Tudor Pickering raised shares of Marathon Petroleum from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $182.00.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MPC opened at $136.82 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.78, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.39. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $148.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $153.39. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a 52-week low of $130.54 and a 52-week high of $221.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The oil and gas company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06 by $0.71. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 2.45%. The business had revenue of $33.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.98 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 8.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th were issued a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.66%. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.66%.

Insider Activity at Marathon Petroleum

In other Marathon Petroleum news, Director Evan Bayh acquired 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $133.70 per share, with a total value of $133,700.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 69,305 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,266,078.50. This represents a 1.46 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ricky D. Hessling bought 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $134.72 per share, for a total transaction of $269,440.00. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 12,162 shares in the company, valued at $1,638,464.64. This represents a 19.68 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Marathon Petroleum Profile

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.