Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Cuts Stock Position in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD trimmed its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 13.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,906,347 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 461,920 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $405,437,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 78.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,961,503 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,389,630,000 after buying an additional 4,367,774 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Marathon Petroleum by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,803,951 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $670,151,000 after acquiring an additional 315,786 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 11.5% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,399,977 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $613,624,000 after acquiring an additional 452,043 shares during the period. Demars Financial Group LLC grew its position in Marathon Petroleum by 16,338.3% in the fourth quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC now owns 4,177,133 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $582,710,000 after acquiring an additional 4,151,722 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 22.3% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,552,655 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $495,595,000 after purchasing an additional 647,045 shares during the period. 76.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Marathon Petroleum

In other news, Director Evan Bayh purchased 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $133.70 per share, for a total transaction of $133,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 69,305 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,266,078.50. The trade was a 1.46 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ricky D. Hessling acquired 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $134.72 per share, for a total transaction of $269,440.00. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 12,162 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,638,464.64. This trade represents a 19.68 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MPC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $169.00 to $147.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $160.00 to $156.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $185.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Tudor Pickering upgraded Marathon Petroleum from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.21.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Performance

Shares of MPC opened at $137.62 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.87 billion, a PE ratio of 13.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.04. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $139.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $146.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a 12-month low of $115.10 and a 12-month high of $201.36.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The oil and gas company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06 by $0.71. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 2.45% and a return on equity of 12.07%. The company had revenue of $33.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.94 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.98 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 8.47 EPS for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 19th. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.66%.

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.