Barclays Cuts Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) Price Target to $185.00

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) had its target price cut by Barclays from $195.00 to $185.00 in a report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the oil and gas company’s stock. Barclays‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 7.48% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on MPC. StockNews.com cut Marathon Petroleum from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $172.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $227.00 to $223.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. Finally, Raymond James decreased their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Marathon Petroleum has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $191.31.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Performance

NYSE MPC traded down $1.36 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $172.12. The company had a trading volume of 383,156 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,710,626. The business has a 50 day moving average of $178.71 and a 200-day moving average of $175.96. The company has a market cap of $60.64 billion, a PE ratio of 8.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.43. Marathon Petroleum has a 1-year low of $112.82 and a 1-year high of $221.11.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported $2.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.53 by $0.25. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 5.32% and a return on equity of 25.87%. The business had revenue of $32.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $32.07 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $6.09 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Marathon Petroleum will post 17.85 EPS for the current year.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Marathon Petroleum

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MPC. Scarborough Advisors LLC grew its stake in 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 valued at $323,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Marathon Petroleum during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $36,823,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Marathon Petroleum by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,174 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $174,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Canoe Financial LP acquired a new position in Marathon Petroleum during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,604,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 10,899 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,617,000 after acquiring an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. 76.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.