Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $209.1875.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MPC. Zacks Research downgraded Marathon Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $211.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $202.00 to $194.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $221.00 price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a research note on Friday, February 6th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Marathon Petroleum

In other news, insider Ricky D. Hessling sold 1,626 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.18, for a total value of $371,020.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 7,525 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,717,054.50. The trade was a 17.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 4,473 shares of company stock valued at $1,015,428. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MPC. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Marathon Petroleum by 30.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,988 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $696,000 after acquiring an additional 1,178 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP grew its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 38.3% in the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 26,697 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,889,000 after purchasing an additional 7,396 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 26.6% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,221 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $369,000 after purchasing an additional 466 shares during the period. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the second quarter worth approximately $1,124,000. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 1.1% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 38,909 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $6,463,000 after purchasing an additional 420 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Down 2.6%

Shares of NYSE MPC opened at $245.28 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $207.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $192.87. The company has a market capitalization of $72.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 0.69. Marathon Petroleum has a 1 year low of $115.10 and a 1 year high of $255.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 13.90% and a net margin of 2.99%.The business had revenue of $32.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.89 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.77 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Marathon Petroleum will post 8.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 18th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is 29.96%.

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.