Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have given a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $192.08.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on MPC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $172.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Raymond James reduced their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $221.00 to $195.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $185.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $190.00 to $168.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 14th.

Marathon Petroleum Price Performance

NYSE MPC opened at $172.67 on Wednesday. Marathon Petroleum has a 52 week low of $108.88 and a 52 week high of $221.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market cap of $60.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $181.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $174.90.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported $2.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.53 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $32.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $32.07 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 5.32% and a return on equity of 25.87%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $6.09 EPS. Analysts forecast that Marathon Petroleum will post 18.65 EPS for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th were paid a $0.825 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.91%. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.48%.

Marathon Petroleum declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, April 30th that allows the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the oil and gas company to reacquire up to 7.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Marathon Petroleum

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Scarborough Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC now owns 2,174 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $323,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,174 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $174,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP acquired a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the fourth quarter valued at $33,604,000. Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 10,899 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,617,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the fourth quarter valued at about $659,000. 76.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.