Two Sigma Advisers LP Takes $71.84 Million Position in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Two Sigma Advisers LP purchased a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 515,000 shares of the oil and gas company's stock, valued at approximately $71,842,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP owned approximately 0.16% of Marathon Petroleum at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora grew its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora now owns 994 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $139,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. grew its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. now owns 2,068 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $288,000 after buying an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC grew its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 4,271 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $596,000 after buying an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 21.5% during the 4th quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 395 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,171 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $303,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.77% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Marathon Petroleum

In other news, Director Evan Bayh bought 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $133.70 per share, with a total value of $133,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 69,305 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,266,078.50. This trade represents a 1.46% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ricky D. Hessling purchased 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was bought at an average price of $134.72 per share, for a total transaction of $269,440.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 12,162 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,638,464.64. This trade represents a 19.68% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MPC shares. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $169.00 to $147.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $168.00 to $184.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Barclays raised their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $141.00 to $159.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Raymond James lowered their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $193.00 to $183.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Marathon Petroleum presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $175.29.

Marathon Petroleum Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of MPC stock traded up $0.29 on Friday, reaching $159.18. 1,576,721 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,710,315. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a 52 week low of $115.10 and a 52 week high of $183.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.90 billion, a PE ratio of 16.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.87. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $141.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $145.99.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The oil and gas company reported ($0.24) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.40) by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $31.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $28.91 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 2.45%. Marathon Petroleum's quarterly revenue was down 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.58 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 8.47 EPS for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 21st. Marathon Petroleum's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.20%.

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.