Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $1.00

Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be paid a dividend of 1.00 per share by the oil and gas company on Thursday, September 10th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 19th.

Marathon Petroleum has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.1%annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 3 consecutive years. Marathon Petroleum has a payout ratio of 34.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Marathon Petroleum to earn $32.72 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 12.2%.

Marathon Petroleum Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MPC opened at $309.09 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.18, a P/E/G ratio of 0.19 and a beta of 0.52. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $271.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $235.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31. Marathon Petroleum has a 1-year low of $158.00 and a 1-year high of $326.92.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The oil and gas company reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.91. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 16.22% and a net margin of 3.36%.The business had revenue of $34.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.24) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Marathon Petroleum will post 43.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on MPC shares. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $224.00 to $284.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $321.00 target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $174.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $291.00 to $376.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $224.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Marathon Petroleum currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $298.69.

About Marathon Petroleum

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.