Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 17.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 25,409 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 5,292 shares during the quarter. Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $3,545,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 342.1% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,593,729 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $911,274,000 after buying an additional 4,328,470 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised 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 buying an additional 315,786 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 22.3% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,552,655 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $495,595,000 after buying an additional 647,045 shares during the period. Boston Partners raised its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 37.4% in the fourth 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 period. Finally, Amundi raised its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,807,566 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $398,388,000 after buying an additional 428,708 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Performance

Marathon Petroleum stock opened at $149.62 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $46.61 billion, a PE ratio of 15.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $149.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $152.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a 12 month low of $130.54 and a 12 month high of $221.11.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The oil and gas company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06 by $0.71. The firm had revenue of $33.47 billion during 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 firm’s revenue was down 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.98 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 8.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were paid a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 19th. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is 36.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Marathon Petroleum

In related news, Director Evan Bayh acquired 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $133.70 per share, for a total transaction of $133,700.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 69,305 shares in the company, valued at $9,266,078.50. This trade represents a 1.46 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Ricky D. Hessling acquired 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were bought at an average price of $134.72 per share, for a total transaction of $269,440.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now owns 12,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,638,464.64. This represents a 19.68 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MPC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $160.00 to $156.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Tudor Pickering raised shares of Marathon Petroleum from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $190.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $159.00 to $161.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $174.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given 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, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $180.21.

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.