Insider Selling: Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) Insider Sells $371,020.68 in Stock

Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) insider Ricky Hessling sold 1,626 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.18, for a total transaction of $371,020.68. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 7,525 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,717,054.50. The trade was a 17.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Performance

NYSE:MPC opened at $235.23 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $69.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.69. Marathon Petroleum Corporation has a twelve month low of $115.10 and a twelve month high of $242.98. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $197.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $189.70. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The oil and gas company reported $4.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.34. The company had revenue of $32.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.89 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 2.99% and a return on equity of 13.90%. Marathon Petroleum’s revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.77 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Marathon Petroleum Corporation will post 8.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 18th were issued a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend 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%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on MPC. TD Cowen boosted 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. Wall Street Zen raised Marathon Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th. Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $221.00 price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Marathon Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.44.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Marathon Petroleum

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 11.2% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,866,104 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $6,456,049,000 after purchasing an additional 3,924,713 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the 2nd quarter worth about $527,197,000. Capital Wealth Planning LLC raised its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 49,392.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 1,498,124 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $245,157,000 after buying an additional 1,495,097 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 3,816.8% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,306,749 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $212,517,000 after buying an additional 1,273,386 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its position in Marathon Petroleum by 13.1% in the second quarter. Boston Partners now owns 6,163,737 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,024,395,000 after buying an additional 715,223 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

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.