Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation, nine have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $182.13.

MPC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $160.00 to $156.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $190.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $170.00 price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Tudor Pickering upgraded shares of Marathon Petroleum from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $159.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th.

Insider Activity at Marathon Petroleum

In related news, Director Evan Bayh purchased 1,000 shares of Marathon Petroleum stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $133.70 per share, with a total value of $133,700.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 69,305 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,266,078.50. The trade was a 1.46 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ricky D. Hessling acquired 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was bought at an average price of $134.72 per share, for a total transaction of $269,440.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 12,162 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,638,464.64. The trade was a 19.68 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Marathon Petroleum

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora grew its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora now owns 994 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $139,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. boosted its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. now owns 2,068 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $288,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the period. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC grew its position in Marathon Petroleum by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 4,271 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $596,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. American Trust increased its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 5.3% during the third quarter. American Trust now owns 1,397 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $228,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Finally, DT Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 21.5% during the fourth quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 395 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Marathon Petroleum Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MPC opened at $151.93 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $148.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $152.51. Marathon Petroleum has a 12 month low of $130.54 and a 12 month high of $221.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.30, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.39.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The oil and gas company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06 by $0.71. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 2.45% and a return on equity of 12.07%. The company had revenue of $33.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.98 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Marathon Petroleum will post 8.47 EPS for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 19th. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is presently 36.66%.

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.