Barclays Issues Positive Forecast for Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) Stock Price

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) had its price objective boosted by equities researchers at Barclays from $141.00 to $159.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the oil and gas company’s stock. Barclays‘s price target indicates a potential downside of 2.37% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on MPC. Raymond James decreased their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $193.00 to $183.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Tudor Pickering raised shares of Marathon Petroleum from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $169.00 to $147.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $142.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $175.29.

Marathon Petroleum Trading Up 3.0%

MPC opened at $162.86 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.23. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $138.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $145.21. Marathon Petroleum has a one year low of $115.10 and a one year high of $183.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.03 billion, a PE ratio of 16.40, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.87.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The oil and gas company reported ($0.24) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.40) by $0.16. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 2.45%. The business had revenue of $31.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $28.91 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.58 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Marathon Petroleum will post 8.47 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Marathon Petroleum news, Director Evan Bayh bought 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $133.70 per share, with a total value of $133,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 69,305 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,266,078.50. This represents a 1.46% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ricky D. Hessling bought 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $134.72 per share, with a total value of $269,440.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,638,464.64. This trade represents a 19.68% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Marathon Petroleum

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MPC. SWS Partners raised its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 19.0% during the fourth quarter. SWS Partners now owns 17,577 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,452,000 after acquiring an additional 2,806 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 1,204.8% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 543,062 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $75,757,000 after purchasing an additional 501,441 shares during the period. Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. now owns 161,171 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $22,483,000 after acquiring an additional 5,476 shares in the last quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 91,256 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $12,730,000 after acquiring an additional 2,892 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cambridge Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Marathon Petroleum during the 4th quarter worth $5,624,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

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.