Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) Coverage Initiated at Wolfe Research

Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) in a research note published on Thursday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage issued an outperform rating and a $200.00 price target on the oil and gas company’s stock.

MPC has been the topic of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $223.00 to $196.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $207.00 to $191.00 and set a sector outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $222.00 to $231.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $190.00 to $168.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $195.00 to $185.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 1st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $193.64.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of Marathon Petroleum stock opened at $165.16 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $172.56 and its 200-day moving average is $177.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $58.19 billion, a PE ratio of 8.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. Marathon Petroleum has a 12-month low of $122.08 and a 12-month high of $221.11.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported $2.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.53 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $32.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $32.07 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 25.87% and a net margin of 5.32%. Marathon Petroleum’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $6.09 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Marathon Petroleum will post 13.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th were paid a dividend of $0.825 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.48%.

Marathon Petroleum announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, April 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the oil and gas company to buy up to 7.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Marathon Petroleum

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,153,636 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $764,526,000 after acquiring an additional 137,341 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 4,286,892 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $743,690,000 after acquiring an additional 107,915 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the 4th quarter worth about $500,685,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,080,958 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $620,815,000 after acquiring an additional 31,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,773,050 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $558,390,000 after purchasing an additional 8,476 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.