The Goldman Sachs Group Cuts Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) Price Target to $204.00

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) had its price target lowered by The Goldman Sachs Group from $206.00 to $204.00 in a research report released on Thursday,MarketScreener reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the oil and gas company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on MPC. Zacks Research lowered Marathon Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $202.00 to $194.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $203.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Marathon Petroleum from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 20th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $196.67.

Marathon Petroleum Price Performance

MPC stock opened at $175.39 on Thursday. 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $179.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $180.71. Marathon Petroleum has a 12-month low of $115.10 and a 12-month high of $202.29. The firm has a market cap of $52.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.70, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.74.

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

Marathon Petroleum Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 19th were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 19th. This is a boost from Marathon Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is presently 42.64%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Marathon Petroleum

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 11.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 3,924,713 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 14.8% during the second 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 buying an additional 1,033,645 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its position in Marathon Petroleum by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 6,305,428 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,214,522,000 after buying an additional 141,691 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 12.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,619,398 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $933,438,000 after acquiring an additional 637,050 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Marathon Petroleum during the 2nd quarter worth $527,197,000. Institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

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.