Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) Trading Up 0.5%

Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) shares shot up 0.5% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $175.00 and last traded at $174.99. 1,344,597 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 48% from the average session volume of 2,601,003 shares. The stock had previously closed at $174.14.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on MPC. Tudor Pickering raised shares of Marathon Petroleum to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $203.00 to $201.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $185.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $195.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Marathon Petroleum currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $191.31.

Marathon Petroleum Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The company has a market capitalization of $61.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.40. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $177.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $176.30.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported $2.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.53 by $0.25. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 5.32% and a return on equity of 25.87%. The company had revenue of $32.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $32.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $6.09 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 17.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th were issued a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 15th. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.48%.

Marathon Petroleum announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, April 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the oil and gas company to purchase up to 7.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Marathon Petroleum

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Marathon Petroleum by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,153,636 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $764,526,000 after purchasing an additional 137,341 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates raised its position in Marathon Petroleum by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 4,178,977 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $842,064,000 after purchasing an additional 76,920 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Marathon Petroleum in the 4th quarter worth $500,685,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Marathon Petroleum by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,080,958 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $620,815,000 after purchasing an additional 31,100 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners raised its position in Marathon Petroleum by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,773,050 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $558,390,000 after purchasing an additional 8,476 shares during the period. 76.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Marathon Petroleum

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.