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

Shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have assigned a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $192.23.

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $211.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $172.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Scotiabank increased their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $227.00 to $223.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Marathon Petroleum from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Marathon Petroleum

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MPC. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the 4th quarter valued at about $500,685,000. Capital Wealth Planning LLC lifted its position in Marathon Petroleum by 10,902.9% during the first quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 1,110,630 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $223,792,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100,536 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 256.3% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 884,573 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $131,235,000 after buying an additional 636,281 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 309.9% during the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 643,590 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $95,483,000 after buying an additional 486,573 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 248.1% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 608,888 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $90,335,000 after acquiring an additional 433,977 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Marathon Petroleum Price Performance

Shares of MPC stock opened at $172.51 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $183.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $174.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 0.99. Marathon Petroleum has a one year low of $108.88 and a one year high of $221.11. The firm has a market cap of $60.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.45.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last announced its 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 the consensus estimate of $32.07 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 5.32% and a return on equity of 25.87%. The company’s revenue was down 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $6.09 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Marathon Petroleum will post 19.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

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

Marathon Petroleum declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, April 30th that permits the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the oil and gas company to repurchase up to 7.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.