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

Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $202.1875.

MPC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised Marathon Petroleum from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Raymond James Financial increased their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $221.00 target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a research note on Friday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $211.00 to $179.00 and set a “neutral” 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.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Performance

Shares of MPC opened at $217.52 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $186.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $185.82. The stock has a market cap of $64.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.29, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.74. Marathon Petroleum has a one year low of $115.10 and a one year high of $228.55.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The oil and gas company reported $4.07 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.34. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 2.99% and a return on equity of 13.90%. The business had revenue of $32.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.89 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.77 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Marathon Petroleum will post 8.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

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 paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 18th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.96%.

Institutional Trading of Marathon Petroleum

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 11.2% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Marathon Petroleum in the second quarter worth approximately $527,197,000. Capital Wealth Planning LLC raised its position in Marathon Petroleum by 49,392.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 1,498,124 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $245,157,000 after acquiring an additional 1,495,097 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 3,816.8% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,306,749 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $212,517,000 after acquiring an additional 1,273,386 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Marathon Petroleum by 14.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,033,645 shares in the last quarter. 76.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Marathon Petroleum Company Profile

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.