Kim K.W. Rucker Sells 6,000 Shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) Stock

Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) Director Kim K.W. Rucker sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.43, for a total transaction of $914,580.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 24,098 shares in the company, valued at $3,673,258.14. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Performance

NYSE:MPC opened at $150.78 on Friday. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a twelve month low of $104.32 and a twelve month high of $159.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The company has a 50-day moving average of $149.95 and a 200-day moving average of $131.22. The firm has a market cap of $60.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.57.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 31st. The oil and gas company reported $8.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.79 by $0.35. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 7.52% and a return on equity of 34.66%. The company had revenue of $41.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $7.81 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 22.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, October 25th that permits the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the oil and gas company to purchase up to 8.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Marathon Petroleum Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 16th will be given a dividend of $0.825 per share. This is a positive change from Marathon Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 15th. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.19%. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.20%.

Institutional Trading of Marathon Petroleum

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 7,851,320 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $913,815,000 after buying an additional 85,809 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 15.1% during the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,281,751 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $846,968,000 after buying an additional 821,891 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 121,130.8% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,942,426 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $458,859,000 after buying an additional 3,939,174 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 0.8% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 3,904,863 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $455,307,000 after buying an additional 29,324 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Marathon Petroleum during the fourth quarter valued at about $453,190,000. 74.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on MPC. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $171.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $148.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $152.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $140.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $157.00 to $153.00 in a research report on Monday, October 9th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $157.92.

Marathon Petroleum Company Profile

Marathon Petroleum Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated downstream energy company primarily in the United States. It operates in two segments, Refining & Marketing, and Midstream. 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.