Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 2,824 Shares of Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC)

Key Points

• The Maryland State Retirement & Pension System has decreased its stake in Marathon Petroleum Corporation by 15.8%, retaining 15,044 shares valued at approximately $2.19 million.
• Marathon Petroleum recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share, reflecting a 2.3% yield for investors.
• Analysts have increased price targets for Marathon Petroleum, with Morgan Stanley and Citigroup both raising their price objectives to $182 in recent reports.

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lessened its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC - Free Report) by 15.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,044 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after selling 2,824 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System's holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $2,192,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC bought a new position in Marathon Petroleum in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 1,546.2% in the 1st quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 214 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Hughes Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Marathon Petroleum in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. lifted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 1,621.4% in the 1st quarter. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. now owns 241 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Marathon Petroleum in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Institutional investors own 76.77% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 price objective (up previously from $180.00) on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $182.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $203.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Marathon Petroleum to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $185.29.

Insider Transactions at Marathon Petroleum

In related news, Director Kim K.W. Rucker sold 7,392 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,293,600.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 18,944 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,315,200. This represents a 28.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Down 0.3%

NYSE MPC traded down $0.56 on Friday, hitting $160.95. 1,278,171 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,807,968. The company has a market cap of $48.93 billion, a PE ratio of 23.88, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.90. Marathon Petroleum Corporation has a 12 month low of $115.10 and a 12 month high of $183.10. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $169.25 and a 200-day moving average of $153.73. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The oil and gas company reported $3.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.74. The business had revenue of $34.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.70 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 1.58% and a return on equity of 8.38%. Marathon Petroleum's revenue was down 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.12 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Marathon Petroleum Corporation will post 8.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. Marathon Petroleum's dividend payout ratio is currently 54.01%.

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.