BMO Capital Markets Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) Stock

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) had its price target lifted by equities researchers at BMO Capital Markets from $200.00 to $225.00 in a research note issued on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the oil and gas company’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective suggests a potential upside of 10.21% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also commented on MPC. Raymond James Financial raised their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Marathon Petroleum from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 20th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $221.00 target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a research note on Friday. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $198.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $216.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 26th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $202.19.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Performance

Marathon Petroleum stock opened at $204.16 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31. The firm has a market cap of $61.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.74. Marathon Petroleum has a 1-year low of $115.10 and a 1-year high of $206.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $178.04 and a 200-day moving average of $181.63.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The oil and gas company reported $4.07 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.73 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $35.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.89 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 14.00% and a net margin of 2.99%.Marathon Petroleum’s quarterly revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.77 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Marathon Petroleum will post 8.47 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Marathon Petroleum

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 11.2% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,866,104 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $6,456,049,000 after purchasing an additional 3,924,713 shares during 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 raised its position in Marathon Petroleum by 14.8% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,013,213 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,325,598,000 after buying an additional 1,033,645 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its stake in 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 period. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 27,979.8% during the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 659,595 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $109,565,000 after acquiring an additional 657,246 shares during the last quarter. 76.77% of the stock is owned by 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.