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

Shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $193.77.

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MPC. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. TD Cowen raised their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $168.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com raised Marathon Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 9th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $159.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $168.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kim K.W. Rucker sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.35, for a total value of $170,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 23,446 shares in the company, valued at $3,994,026.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Marathon Petroleum

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MPC. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the fourth quarter worth $500,685,000. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the third quarter worth $109,099,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 127.0% in the third quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,232,706 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $186,536,000 after acquiring an additional 689,576 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 256.3% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 884,573 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $131,235,000 after acquiring an additional 636,281 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group increased its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 309.9% in the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 643,590 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $95,483,000 after acquiring an additional 486,573 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of MPC opened at $200.51 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. Marathon Petroleum has a 12 month low of $104.32 and a 12 month high of $221.11. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $193.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $167.44. The firm has a market cap of $72.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.52, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.52.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The oil and gas company reported $3.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $1.77. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 30.58% and a net margin of 6.44%. The company had revenue of $36.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $6.65 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Marathon Petroleum will post 20.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.825 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.65%. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.02%.

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.