Rhumbline Advisers Sells 27,933 Shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Rhumbline Advisers lessened its stake in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 666,355 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 27,933 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers’ holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $92,956,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in MPC. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 1.6% during the third quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 4,285 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $698,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora grew its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora now owns 994 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $139,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. American Trust grew its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 5.3% during the third quarter. American Trust now owns 1,397 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $228,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 21.5% in the fourth quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 395 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Partners Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 3.3% in the third quarter. Financial Partners Group LLC now owns 2,220 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $362,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Jeffrey C. Campbell purchased 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $149.61 per share, for a total transaction of $897,660.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 6,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $911,124.90. This represents a 6,666.67 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MPC shares. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $190.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Tudor Pickering raised Marathon Petroleum from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays cut their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $168.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Mizuho cut their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $174.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $170.00 price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Marathon Petroleum presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $181.27.

Marathon Petroleum Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE MPC opened at $156.11 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $50.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.41. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a 52 week low of $130.54 and a 52 week high of $221.11. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $146.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $157.08. 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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.06 by $0.71. The firm had revenue of $33.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.94 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 2.45%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.98 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 8.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, November 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the oil and gas company to reacquire up to 10% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.33%. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.66%.

About Marathon Petroleum

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.