Easterly Investment Partners LLC Raises Holdings in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Easterly Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC - Free Report) by 10.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 62,739 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after acquiring an additional 5,744 shares during the period. Easterly Investment Partners LLC's holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $8,752,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Marathon Petroleum by 342.1% during 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 boosted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,803,951 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $670,151,000 after acquiring an additional 315,786 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew 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 worth $495,595,000 after purchasing an additional 647,045 shares during the period. Boston Partners increased its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 37.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 935,042 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $453,427,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.77% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a research report on Thursday. TD Cowen restated a "buy" rating and set a $170.00 price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Tudor Pickering upgraded shares of Marathon Petroleum from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $183.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. 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 note on Friday, March 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $180.21.

Marathon Petroleum Price Performance

MPC stock traded up $0.73 during trading on Monday, hitting $144.83. 587,122 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,639,090. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a 52 week low of $130.54 and a 52 week high of $221.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.39. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $148.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $151.46. 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 (NYSE:MPC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The oil and gas company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.06 by $0.71. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 2.45%. The company had revenue of $33.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.98 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 8.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th were issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.51%. Marathon Petroleum's payout ratio is presently 36.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Marathon Petroleum news, insider Ricky D. Hessling acquired 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 acquisition, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Evan Bayh bought 1,000 shares of Marathon Petroleum stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $133.70 per share, for a total transaction of $133,700.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 69,305 shares of the company's stock, 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. 0.21% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.