Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) Hits New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $204.37 and last traded at $202.56, with a volume of 530558 shares. The stock had previously closed at $195.83.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $174.00 price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Citigroup reduced their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $185.00 to $182.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $216.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 26th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $221.00 target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a report on Friday. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Marathon Petroleum from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 20th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Marathon Petroleum presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $198.44.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Performance

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 firm has a market cap of $60.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.74. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $177.45 and a 200 day moving average of $180.91.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The oil and gas company reported $4.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.34. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 14.00% and a net margin of 2.99%.The firm had revenue of $35.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.89 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.77 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Marathon Petroleum Corporation will post 8.47 EPS for the current fiscal 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. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 18th. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is presently 29.96%.

Institutional Trading of Marathon Petroleum

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MPC. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $6,456,049,000 after acquiring an additional 3,924,713 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased 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 valued at $1,325,598,000 after purchasing an additional 1,033,645 shares during the period. Boston Partners boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 141,691 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 12.8% in the second 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 buying an additional 637,050 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Marathon Petroleum during the second quarter valued at $527,197,000. 76.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.