Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) Shares Down 0.3% After Analyst Downgrade

Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) shares fell 0.3% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on the stock from $191.00 to $186.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Marathon Petroleum traded as low as $171.70 and last traded at $173.55. 511,328 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 2,702,308 shares. The stock had previously closed at $174.14.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $211.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Bank of America increased their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $185.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Scotiabank increased their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $175.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $190.00 to $168.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $227.00 to $223.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $191.31.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Marathon Petroleum

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,153,636 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $764,526,000 after purchasing an additional 137,341 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 4,178,977 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $842,064,000 after purchasing an additional 76,920 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the 4th quarter worth $500,685,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,080,958 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $620,815,000 after purchasing an additional 31,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,773,050 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $558,390,000 after purchasing an additional 8,476 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Down 0.5 %

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 stock has a market capitalization of $61.08 billion, a PE ratio of 8.67, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.40. The business has a 50 day moving average of $177.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $176.31.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported $2.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.53 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $32.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $32.07 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 25.87% and a net margin of 5.32%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $6.09 EPS. Analysts predict that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 17.85 EPS for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th were paid a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 15th. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.48%.

Marathon Petroleum announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, April 30th that allows the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the oil and gas company to purchase up to 7.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.