1,965 Shares in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) Purchased by Straightline Group LLC

Straightline Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 1,965 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $274,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MPC. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 762.9% during the fourth quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 302 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in Marathon Petroleum during the fourth quarter valued at $44,000. 76.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on MPC shares. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $170.00 target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $183.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $174.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $160.00 to $156.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $159.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $180.29.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MPC opened at $121.37 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $146.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $150.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.23. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a 52 week low of $115.10 and a 52 week high of $219.74. The firm has a market cap of $37.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.04.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 2.45%. The company had revenue of $33.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.98 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 8.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 19th. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.