JPMorgan Chase & Co. Cuts Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) Price Target to $179.00

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) had its target price decreased by investment analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $211.00 to $179.00 in a report released on Tuesday,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the oil and gas company’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s target price would indicate a potential upside of 1.02% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms also recently commented on MPC. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $198.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $203.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Zacks Research raised Marathon Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $202.00 to $194.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $196.79.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Down 2.1%

Shares of Marathon Petroleum stock traded down $3.89 on Tuesday, reaching $177.20. 2,003,971 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,602,306. The company has a market capitalization of $53.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.89, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31. Marathon Petroleum has a one year low of $115.10 and a one year high of $202.29. The company has a 50-day moving average of $182.49 and a 200 day moving average of $180.56.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The oil and gas company reported $3.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $34.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.06 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a net margin of 2.13% and a return on equity of 9.76%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Marathon Petroleum will post 8.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Marathon Petroleum

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MPC. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 11.2% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,866,104 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $6,456,049,000 after acquiring an additional 3,924,713 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 14.8% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,013,213 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,325,598,000 after purchasing an additional 1,033,645 shares during the period. Boston Partners boosted its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 6,305,428 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,214,522,000 after purchasing an additional 141,691 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 12.8% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,619,398 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $933,438,000 after buying an additional 637,050 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Marathon Petroleum during the second quarter worth $527,197,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Marathon Petroleum Company Profile

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.