Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $203.0714.

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $184.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $183.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Raymond James Financial cut their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $215.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a report on Thursday, October 9th.

Marathon Petroleum Trading Down 0.4%

NYSE:MPC opened at $165.73 on Friday. Marathon Petroleum has a 12-month low of $115.10 and a 12-month high of $202.29. The firm has a market cap of $49.82 billion, a PE ratio of 17.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.72. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $188.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $180.05.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The oil and gas company reported $3.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.00 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $34.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.06 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 9.76% and a net margin of 2.13%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Marathon Petroleum will post 8.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 19th were issued a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. This is a positive change from Marathon Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 19th. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.64%.

Institutional Trading of Marathon Petroleum

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 11.2% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,866,104 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $6,456,049,000 after acquiring an additional 3,924,713 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the second quarter valued at approximately $527,197,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 14.8% during the second 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 purchasing an additional 1,033,645 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 26.5% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,675,362 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $535,465,000 after purchasing an additional 769,015 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners grew its position in Marathon Petroleum by 13.1% in 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 buying an additional 715,223 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

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.