Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $198.8750.

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MPC. Citigroup dropped their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $185.00 to $182.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $198.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $202.00 to $194.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Marathon Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th.

Institutional Trading of Marathon Petroleum

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of MPC. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 11.2% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,866,104 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $6,456,049,000 after buying an additional 3,924,713 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the 2nd quarter valued at $527,197,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Marathon Petroleum by 14.8% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,013,213 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,325,598,000 after purchasing an additional 1,033,645 shares during the period. Boston Partners increased its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 13.1% in the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 6,163,737 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,024,395,000 after purchasing an additional 715,223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its position in Marathon Petroleum by 27,979.8% in the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 659,595 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $109,565,000 after purchasing an additional 657,246 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Marathon Petroleum Trading Up 3.8%

NYSE MPC opened at $203.25 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Marathon Petroleum has a 12 month low of $115.10 and a 12 month high of $204.37. The company has a market capitalization of $61.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.74. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $177.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $181.17.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The oil and gas company reported $4.07 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.73 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $35.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.89 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 14.00% and a net margin of 2.99%.The business’s revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.77 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Marathon Petroleum will post 8.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 18th. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.96%.

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.