Barclays Lowers Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) Price Target to $195.00

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) had its target price cut by Barclays from $221.00 to $195.00 in a research note released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the oil and gas company’s stock.

MPC has been the topic of several other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Marathon Petroleum from $172.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $185.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $202.00 to $200.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $168.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $191.62.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Marathon Petroleum stock opened at $183.80 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $64.76 billion, a PE ratio of 9.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.43. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $194.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $168.51. Marathon Petroleum has a 52-week low of $104.32 and a 52-week high of $221.11.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported $2.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.53 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $32.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $32.07 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 25.87% and a net margin of 5.32%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $6.09 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Marathon Petroleum will post 19.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.825 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.80%. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.48%.

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

Insider Activity

In other Marathon Petroleum news, Director Kim K.W. Rucker sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.35, for a total value of $170,350.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 23,446 shares in the company, valued at $3,994,026.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Marathon Petroleum

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MPC. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the 4th quarter valued at about $500,685,000. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the 3rd quarter worth $109,099,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Marathon Petroleum by 127.0% during the third quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,232,706 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $186,536,000 after purchasing an additional 689,576 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 256.3% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 884,573 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $131,235,000 after purchasing an additional 636,281 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 309.9% in the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 643,590 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $95,483,000 after buying an additional 486,573 shares in the last quarter. 76.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.