Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Thursday morning.

MPC has been the topic of several other reports. Raymond James reduced their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $193.00 to $183.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $160.00 to $156.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $168.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $175.29.

Marathon Petroleum Price Performance

MPC stock opened at $159.18 on Thursday. Marathon Petroleum has a 12 month low of $115.10 and a 12 month high of $183.31. The firm has a market cap of $48.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $141.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $145.99.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The oil and gas company reported ($0.24) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.40) by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $31.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $28.91 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 2.45%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.58 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Marathon Petroleum will post 8.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be paid a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 21st. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Marathon Petroleum

In other Marathon Petroleum news, insider Ricky D. Hessling bought 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $134.72 per share, for a total transaction of $269,440.00. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 12,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,638,464.64. This represents a 19.68% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Evan Bayh acquired 1,000 shares of Marathon Petroleum stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $133.70 per share, with a total value of $133,700.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 69,305 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,266,078.50. This trade represents a 1.46% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Marathon Petroleum

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MPC. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 12.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,941,391 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $5,090,611,000 after acquiring an additional 3,834,501 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 18.7% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,824,177 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,722,664,000 after purchasing an additional 1,862,674 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 6.3% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 6,037,532 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $879,608,000 after acquiring an additional 355,215 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its position in Marathon Petroleum by 58.5% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,448,514 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $791,274,000 after purchasing an additional 2,011,810 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,982,348 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $725,878,000 after acquiring an additional 178,397 shares during the last quarter. 76.77% of the stock is currently 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.