Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC Trims Stock Position in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC trimmed its position in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC - Free Report) by 30.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,269 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after selling 2,751 shares during the period. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC's holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $874,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Virtu Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 13.3% during the third quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 4,373 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $712,000 after purchasing an additional 515 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 747.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 21,275 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $3,466,000 after buying an additional 18,764 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 121.0% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 17,445 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $2,842,000 after buying an additional 9,551 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 29.6% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 739 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $103,000 after buying an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New Hampshire raised its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 27.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New Hampshire now owns 689 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $96,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.77% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Marathon Petroleum

In related news, insider Ricky D. Hessling acquired 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $134.72 per share, with a total value of $269,440.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 12,162 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,638,464.64. This represents a 19.68 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Evan Bayh bought 1,000 shares of Marathon Petroleum stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $133.70 per share, with a total value of $133,700.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 69,305 shares in the company, valued at $9,266,078.50. The trade was 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on MPC. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $160.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $185.00 to $175.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $169.00 to $147.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Tudor Pickering upgraded shares of Marathon Petroleum from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Raymond James dropped their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $193.00 to $183.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $174.21.

Marathon Petroleum Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of MPC traded up $1.71 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $143.26. The stock had a trading volume of 3,426,945 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,695,596. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a 1 year low of $115.10 and a 1 year high of $184.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock's 50 day moving average is $137.02 and its 200 day moving average is $145.26. The firm has a market cap of $44.63 billion, a PE ratio of 14.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.04.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The oil and gas company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 2.45%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.98 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 8.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be issued a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 21st. Marathon Petroleum's dividend payout ratio is currently 36.66%.

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.