Anchor Capital Advisors LLC Sells 1,416 Shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Anchor Capital Advisors LLC lowered its position in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 85,645 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 1,416 shares during the period. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $12,706,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA purchased a new position in Marathon Petroleum in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new stake in Marathon Petroleum in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Peoples Bank KS purchased a new position in Marathon Petroleum during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $44,000. 76.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MPC shares. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $201.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. StockNews.com raised Marathon Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 9th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $159.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $214.00 to $227.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $193.77.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kim K.W. Rucker sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.35, for a total value of $170,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,446 shares in the company, valued at $3,994,026.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Down 5.8 %

MPC stock traded down $11.66 on Tuesday, hitting $188.85. 1,251,159 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,728,356. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $193.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $167.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.59. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a 12-month low of $104.32 and a 12-month high of $221.11. The stock has a market cap of $68.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.52.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The oil and gas company reported $3.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $1.77. The firm had revenue of $36.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.90 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 6.44% and a return on equity of 30.58%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $6.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 20.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a $0.825 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.75%. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.02%.

Marathon Petroleum Company 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.