Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Saturday morning.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $202.00 to $194.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $213.00 to $217.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $205.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Weiss Ratings cut Marathon Petroleum from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $211.00 to $239.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.19.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Up 1.4%

NYSE:MPC opened at $251.91 on Friday. Marathon Petroleum has a 1-year low of $115.10 and a 1-year high of $252.83. The company has a 50-day moving average of $205.67 and a 200 day moving average of $192.35. The firm has a market cap of $74.19 billion, a PE ratio of 18.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 0.69. 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 posted its 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. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 2.99% and a return on equity of 13.90%. The business had revenue of $32.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.89 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.77 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Marathon Petroleum will post 8.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Ricky D. Hessling sold 1,810 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.78, for a total transaction of $406,851.80. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 10,188 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,290,058.64. This represents a 15.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In the last quarter, insiders sold 4,473 shares of company stock worth $1,015,428. 0.17% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Marathon Petroleum

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC grew 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 purchasing an additional 1,178 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP lifted its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 38.3% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 26,697 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,889,000 after buying an additional 7,396 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 26.6% during 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 buying an additional 466 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the 2nd quarter valued at $708,000. Finally, CreativeOne Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 4,016 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $667,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares during the period. 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.