First Trust Advisors LP Sells 88,784 Shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

First Trust Advisors LP cut its position in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC - Free Report) by 24.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 269,919 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after selling 88,784 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.08% of Marathon Petroleum worth $37,654,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 78.1% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,961,503 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $1,389,630,000 after acquiring an additional 4,367,774 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,803,951 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $670,151,000 after purchasing an additional 315,786 shares during the period. Demars Financial Group LLC raised its position in Marathon Petroleum by 16,338.3% during the 4th quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC now owns 4,177,133 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $582,710,000 after purchasing an additional 4,151,722 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 22.3% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,552,655 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $495,595,000 after buying an additional 647,045 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners grew its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 37.4% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,436,704 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $480,501,000 after buying an additional 935,042 shares during the last quarter. 76.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Ricky D. Hessling bought 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $134.72 per share, for a total transaction of $269,440.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 12,162 shares in the company, valued at $1,638,464.64. The trade was a 19.68 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Evan Bayh bought 1,000 shares of Marathon Petroleum stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were 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 directly owns 69,305 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,266,078.50. This trade represents a 1.46 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.21% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Scotiabank cut their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $169.00 to $147.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $185.00 to $175.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $160.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $161.00 to $141.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $160.00 to $156.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Marathon Petroleum has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $174.21.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of Marathon Petroleum stock traded down $0.71 on Wednesday, hitting $137.60. The company had a trading volume of 2,549,257 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,699,594. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.04. 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 1 year low of $115.10 and a 1 year high of $184.77. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $137.56 and a 200-day moving average of $145.82.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The oil and gas company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.06 by $0.71. The firm had revenue of $33.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.94 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 2.45% and a return on equity of 12.07%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.98 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 8.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be paid a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.65%. Marathon Petroleum's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.66%.

Marathon Petroleum Company 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.