Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Saturday.

MPC has been the topic of a number of other reports. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $183.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Marathon Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $204.00 to $211.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $198.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, 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 report on Friday, January 23rd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $202.50.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Down 2.8%

Shares of NYSE:MPC opened at $215.15 on Friday. Marathon Petroleum has a 52-week low of $115.10 and a 52-week high of $228.55. The stock has a market cap of $63.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.12, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.69. The business has a fifty day moving average of $188.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $186.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The oil and gas company reported $4.07 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.34. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 13.90% and a net margin of 2.99%.The business had revenue of $32.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.89 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.77 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th will be paid a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 18th. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is 29.96%.

Institutional Trading of Marathon Petroleum

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in 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 valued at $6,456,049,000 after purchasing an additional 3,924,713 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the second quarter valued at $527,197,000. Capital Wealth Planning LLC raised its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 49,392.0% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 1,495,097 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 3,816.8% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,306,749 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $212,517,000 after acquiring an additional 1,273,386 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 1,033,645 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

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.