Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) Research Coverage Started at Wolfe Research

Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) in a research note published on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued an outperform rating and a $200.00 price objective on the oil and gas company’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $207.00 to $191.00 and set a sector outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $190.00 to $168.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Raymond James dropped their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a strong-buy rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $223.00 to $196.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $211.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Marathon Petroleum has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $193.64.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Performance

Shares of Marathon Petroleum stock opened at $165.16 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $58.19 billion, a PE ratio of 8.25, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.40. Marathon Petroleum has a 12 month low of $122.08 and a 12 month high of $221.11. 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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $172.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $177.74.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported $2.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.53 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $32.71 billion for 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%. The firm’s revenue was down 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $6.09 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Marathon Petroleum will post 13.84 EPS for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum declared that its board has approved a share repurchase 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 reacquire up to 7.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors 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 yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 15th. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is currently 16.48%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Marathon Petroleum

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Scarborough Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC now owns 2,174 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $323,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the period. Global Assets Advisory LLC bought a new position in Marathon Petroleum during the first quarter worth about $36,823,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,174 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $174,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Canoe Financial LP bought a new position in Marathon Petroleum during the fourth quarter worth about $33,604,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 10,899 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,617,000 after acquiring an additional 340 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

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.