Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) Price Target Raised to $426.00

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) had its target price boosted by Bank of America from $410.00 to $426.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the oil and gas company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on MPC. Raymond James Financial upped their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $350.00 to $445.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 14th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $357.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $376.00 to $472.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 21st. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $284.00 to $304.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Marathon Petroleum from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Marathon Petroleum currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $370.38.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Performance

Shares of MPC stock opened at $421.93 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $367.08 and a 200 day moving average of $293.90. Marathon Petroleum has a 1 year low of $161.93 and a 1 year high of $431.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $123.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.13 and a beta of 0.54.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The oil and gas company reported $17.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $14.27 by $3.46. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 31.96% and a net margin of 5.48%.The business had revenue of $51.99 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.96 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 53.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Marathon Petroleum will post 59.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were issued a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is presently 13.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Erin M. Brzezinski sold 570 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.79, for a total transaction of $206,790.30. Following the sale, the vice president owned 1,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $571,757.04. This trade represents a 26.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Shawn Lyon sold 1,000 shares of Marathon Petroleum stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $375.75, for a total transaction of $375,750.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 11,194 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,206,145.50. This trade represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,691 shares of company stock worth $7,780,127. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the 2nd quarter valued at about $6,648,958,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Marathon Petroleum in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,029,611,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in Marathon Petroleum by 1.6% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,595,084 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $633,668,000 after purchasing an additional 40,124 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 17.5% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 2,237,930 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $572,172,000 after purchasing an additional 332,551 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 16.7% in the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,508,489 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $385,675,000 after purchasing an additional 215,686 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

About Marathon Petroleum

Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) is an integrated downstream energy company engaged primarily in refining, marketing and transporting petroleum products. The company converts crude oil and other feedstocks into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, asphalt, propane and other refined products used by consumers, businesses and industrial customers.

Marathon Petroleum operates refineries and related logistics assets in the United States, with a refining and marketing presence serving markets across the Midwest, Gulf Coast and West Coast.