Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.90 EPS

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The oil and gas company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.90, Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $35.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.34 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 24.05% and a net margin of 4.79%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $8.14 EPS.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Up 3.6 %

Shares of NYSE:MPC traded up $5.34 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $154.90. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,149,780 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,666,601. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.31. Marathon Petroleum has a fifty-two week low of $140.98 and a fifty-two week high of $221.11. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $161.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $170.42. The company has a market capitalization of $51.84 billion, a PE ratio of 7.85, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.38.

Marathon Petroleum Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. This is a boost from Marathon Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Marathon Petroleum’s payout ratio is currently 17.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $172.00 to $167.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Tudor Pickering cut Marathon Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $180.00 to $168.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $200.00 to $190.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $222.00 to $231.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $185.67.

Marathon Petroleum declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, November 5th that allows the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the oil and gas company to reacquire up to 10% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Marathon Petroleum Company Profile

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.