Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) to Repurchase $5.00 billion in Outstanding Stock

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, November 5th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the oil and gas company to buy up to 10% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MPC shares. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $191.00 to $170.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Marathon Petroleum in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $200.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $200.00 to $190.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $222.00 to $231.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Tudor Pickering lowered Marathon Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $185.67.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Down 0.8 %

MPC opened at $154.00 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $51.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.38. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $161.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $170.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. Marathon Petroleum has a 12 month low of $140.98 and a 12 month high of $221.11.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The oil and gas company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.90. The firm had revenue of $35.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.34 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 24.05% and a net margin of 4.79%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $8.14 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Marathon Petroleum will post 8.71 EPS for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. This is an increase from Marathon Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is currently 17.34%.

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.