Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC – Get Free Report) shares fell 0.3% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on the stock from $191.00 to $186.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Marathon Petroleum traded as low as $171.70 and last traded at $173.55. 511,328 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 2,702,308 shares. The stock had previously closed at $174.14.
Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. StockNews.com lowered Marathon Petroleum from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Mizuho dropped their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $203.00 to $201.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $227.00 to $223.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Tudor Pickering upgraded Marathon Petroleum to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Marathon Petroleum currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $191.31.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,153,636 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $764,526,000 after acquiring an additional 137,341 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 1.9% in the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 4,178,977 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $842,064,000 after acquiring an additional 76,920 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Marathon Petroleum in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $500,685,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 1.0% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,080,958 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $620,815,000 after acquiring an additional 31,100 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 0.3% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,773,050 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $558,390,000 after acquiring an additional 8,476 shares during the period. 76.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Marathon Petroleum Price Performance
The company has a market capitalization of $61.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.40. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $177.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 0.99.
Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported $2.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.53 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $32.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $32.07 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 25.87% and a net margin of 5.32%. Marathon Petroleum’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $6.09 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 17.85 EPS for the current year.
Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th were paid a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 15th. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is 16.48%.
Marathon Petroleum declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback 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 repurchase up to 7.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication 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.