Analysts Set Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) Target Price at $198.38

Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have issued a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $198.38.

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $200.00 target price on the stock. Mizuho lowered their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $203.00 to $201.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 20th. StockNews.com lowered Marathon Petroleum from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $207.00 to $191.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $195.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 1st.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Marathon Petroleum

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 9,239 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,371,000 after acquiring an additional 261 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC grew its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 20.2% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 6,050 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $898,000 after buying an additional 1,015 shares during the period. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC increased its position in Marathon Petroleum by 8.4% in the 4th quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 3,276 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $486,000 after buying an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 27.2% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 131,697 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $19,539,000 after buying an additional 28,139 shares during the period. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 37.4% in the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 16,090 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,387,000 after acquiring an additional 4,376 shares in the last quarter. 76.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Marathon Petroleum Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of MPC stock opened at $176.38 on Thursday. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $139.32 and a fifty-two week high of $221.11. The company has a market cap of $62.14 billion, a PE ratio of 8.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.40. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $170.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $179.61.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The oil and gas company reported $4.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.09 by $1.03. The firm had revenue of $38.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.66 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 25.87% and a net margin of 5.32%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.32 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Marathon Petroleum will post 13.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be paid a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 21st. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is 16.48%.

Marathon Petroleum announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, April 30th that allows the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the oil and gas company to reacquire up to 7.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.