Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) Given New $204.00 Price Target at The Goldman Sachs Group

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

Several other equities analysts have also commented on MPC. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $214.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Barclays lowered their price target 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. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $185.00 to $182.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Raymond James Financial boosted their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Marathon Petroleum currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $196.67.

Marathon Petroleum Price Performance

NYSE:MPC traded down $0.37 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $175.39. The stock had a trading volume of 1,634,952 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,943,898. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.70, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.74. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $179.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $180.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 1.32. Marathon Petroleum has a one year low of $115.10 and a one year high of $202.29.

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

Marathon Petroleum Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of Marathon Petroleum

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 3,924,713 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Marathon Petroleum in the 2nd quarter worth about $527,197,000. 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 valued at $1,325,598,000 after acquiring an additional 1,033,645 shares during the period. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 13.1% during the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 6,163,737 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,024,395,000 after acquiring an additional 715,223 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 27,979.8% in the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 659,595 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $109,565,000 after acquiring an additional 657,246 shares during the period. 76.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.