StockNews.com Lowers Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) to Buy

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Thursday.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on MPC. Barclays cut their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $221.00 to $195.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $159.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $202.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $191.62.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Up 0.0 %

MPC opened at $180.93 on Thursday. Marathon Petroleum has a twelve month low of $104.32 and a twelve month high of $221.11. The firm has a market cap of $63.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.04, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.55. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $194.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $168.73. 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 (NYSE:MPC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported $2.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.53 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $32.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 quarter last year, the business posted $6.09 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Marathon Petroleum will post 19.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, April 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the oil and gas company to purchase up to 7.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Marathon Petroleum news, Director Kim K.W. Rucker sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.35, for a total value of $170,350.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 23,446 shares in the company, valued at $3,994,026.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Marathon Petroleum

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MPC. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Marathon Petroleum during the 4th quarter worth approximately $500,685,000. Capital Wealth Planning LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 worth $223,792,000 after acquiring an additional 1,100,536 shares during the period. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Marathon Petroleum in the 3rd quarter valued at $109,099,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 127.0% in the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,232,706 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $186,536,000 after purchasing an additional 689,576 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 256.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 636,281 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

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.