Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.91 Per Share

Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 30th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a dividend of 0.91 per share by the oil and gas company on Tuesday, December 10th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.51%. This is a boost from Marathon Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83.

Marathon Petroleum has raised its dividend by an average of 9.9% annually over the last three years. Marathon Petroleum has a dividend payout ratio of 33.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Marathon Petroleum to earn $10.57 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.30 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 31.2%.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE MPC opened at $144.77 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $163.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $172.18. Marathon Petroleum has a 1 year low of $140.98 and a 1 year high of $221.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.31 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The company has a market cap of $51.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.23, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.37.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The oil and gas company reported $4.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.09 by $1.03. The company had revenue of $38.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.66 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 4.79% and a return on equity of 24.05%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.32 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Marathon Petroleum will post 8.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $196.00 to $182.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $168.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 20th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $191.00 to $170.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $222.00 to $231.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $180.00 to $168.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $187.00.

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.