Wall Street Zen Downgrades Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) to Hold

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on MPC. Raymond James Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $170.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $183.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Barclays increased their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $194.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $182.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $203.79.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Performance

Shares of Marathon Petroleum stock opened at $167.91 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $50.47 billion, a PE ratio of 17.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.72. Marathon Petroleum has a 12 month low of $115.10 and a 12 month high of $202.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $189.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $179.87.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The oil and gas company reported $3.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.00 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $34.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.06 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 9.76% and a net margin of 2.13%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Marathon Petroleum will post 8.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MPC. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Marathon Petroleum during the third quarter valued at about $518,000. Saranac Partners Ltd bought a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the third quarter worth about $352,000. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd lifted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 43,675 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $8,418,000 after purchasing an additional 2,600 shares during the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment lifted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 12,384 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,387,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Investment Research Partners LLC bought a new stake in Marathon Petroleum during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $200,000. 76.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Marathon Petroleum

Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: MPC) is a U.S.-based downstream energy company engaged principally in the refining, marketing, supply and transportation of petroleum products. The company was formed through a spin-off from Marathon Oil in 2011 and operates an integrated system of refining and logistics assets that support the production and distribution of transportation fuels and other refined petroleum products.

Marathon Petroleum’s operations include refining crude oil into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, asphalt and other specialty products, as well as managing the distribution and storage infrastructure needed to move those products to market.