Executive Vice President of Refining Timothy Aydt Sold A Bunch Of Shares In Marathon Petroleum

Some Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) shareholders may be a little concerned to see that the Executive Vice President of Refining, Timothy Aydt, recently sold a substantial US$1.4m worth of stock at a price of US$173 per share. That's a big disposal, and it decreased their holding size by 39%, which is notable but not too bad.

View our latest analysis for Marathon Petroleum

Marathon Petroleum Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In fact, the recent sale by Timothy Aydt was the biggest sale of Marathon Petroleum shares made by an insider individual in the last twelve months, according to our records. That means that an insider was selling shares at below the current price (US$173). When an insider sells below the current price, it suggests that they considered that lower price to be fair. That makes us wonder what they think of the (higher) recent valuation. However, while insider selling is sometimes discouraging, it's only a weak signal. This single sale was just 39% of Timothy Aydt's stake.

Marathon Petroleum insiders didn't buy any shares over the last year. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

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Does Marathon Petroleum Boast High Insider Ownership?

Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. Insiders own 0.2% of Marathon Petroleum shares, worth about US$97m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Marathon Petroleum Tell Us?

An insider sold Marathon Petroleum shares recently, but they didn't buy any. Looking to the last twelve months, our data doesn't show any insider buying. While insiders do own shares, they don't own a heap, and they have been selling. We'd practice some caution before buying! In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Marathon Petroleum. At Simply Wall St, we've found that Marathon Petroleum has 3 warning signs (1 makes us a bit uncomfortable!) that deserve your attention before going any further with your analysis.

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For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.