Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Shares of Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC — Get Free Report) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eighteen research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $199.7857.

MPC has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $203.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $183.00 to $211.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $202.00 to $194.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a research report on Thursday, October 9th.

View Our Latest Report on MPC

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Marathon Petroleum during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Activest Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 290.2% during the second quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 160 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC raised its position in Marathon Petroleum by 103.1% during the second quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 199 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the period. WFA of San Diego LLC purchased a new stake in Marathon Petroleum in the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Transce3nd LLC grew its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 10,250.0% during the 2nd quarter. Transce3nd LLC now owns 207 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. 76.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Marathon Petroleum Trading Up 2.9%

Marathon Petroleum stock opened at $180.98 on Thursday. Marathon Petroleum has a 12-month low of $115.10 and a 12-month high of $202.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $54.40 billion, a PE ratio of 19.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.74. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $182.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $180.56.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC — Get Free Report) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $34.81 billion during 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%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Marathon Petroleum will post 8.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 19th were paid a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 19th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. This is an increase from Marathon Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.64%.

About Marathon Petroleum

(Get Free Report)

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.

Further Reading

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