Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 3,117 Shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System decreased its holdings in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 9.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 29,538 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 3,117 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $4,382,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MPC. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 1.0% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,526,814 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $685,088,000 after purchasing an additional 43,989 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 4,102,057 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $608,581,000 after buying an additional 96,753 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 1.4% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,746,614 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $415,673,000 after buying an additional 36,987 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,341,364 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $347,365,000 after acquiring an additional 178,502 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,624,929 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $245,917,000 after buying an additional 82,576 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on MPC. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. 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 report on Friday, April 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $172.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $202.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $168.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $191.62.

Insider Activity at Marathon Petroleum

In other news, Director Kim K.W. Rucker sold 1,000 shares of Marathon Petroleum stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.35, for a total value of $170,350.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 23,446 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,994,026.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.21% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Marathon Petroleum Price Performance

Marathon Petroleum stock traded down $1.81 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $180.97. 959,019 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,753,882. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $194.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $168.51. The stock has a market cap of $63.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.55. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a one year low of $104.32 and a one year high of $221.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.43.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported $2.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.53 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $32.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $32.07 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 25.87% and a net margin of 5.32%. Marathon Petroleum’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $6.09 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 19.96 earnings per share 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.825 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.82%. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.48%.

Marathon Petroleum declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, April 30th that permits the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the oil and gas company to buy up to 7.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.